The Bombay High Court has clarified that a second wife cannot face charges of abetment to bigamy merely because she married a man who was still legally married to another woman.
The case originated from a 2007 order by a metropolitan magistrate’s court in Vikhroli, which issued summons to a woman, her father, and her ‘husband’ after a complaint by the man’s first wife.
According to the complaint, the first wife married the man in March 1990, and they had three daughters. She claimed her husband mistreated her and forced her to leave the house in July 2005. Three months later, she discovered that he had married another woman while still married to her.
Following her complaint, the magistrate ordered prosecution of the husband for bigamy under Section 494 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the second wife and her father for abetment under Section 109 of the IPC.
Challenging this order, the second wife and her father approached the Bombay High Court. The prosecution argued that the second wife was liable for abetment simply because she became the man’s second wife.
Justice Makarand Karnik rejected this argument and quashed the proceedings against the father-daughter duo. The court found no evidence in the complaint to prove they had instigated or aided the man in committing bigamy.
The court, however, allowed the prosecution against the husband—the main accused—to continue. Justice Karnik noted that the only claim in the complaint was that the man married a second time while still married, which was not enough to establish abetment charges against the second wife and her father without specific allegations of assistance or instigation.
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