The Bombay High Court recently ruled that a man who married another woman while his first marriage was still valid committed not only bigamy but also rape. The Court said that the second marriage, which was based on false promises, amounted to cheating and sexual assault.
On August 24, a bench of Justices Nitin Sambre and Rajesh Patil rejected a petition by the man who had asked to cancel an FIR registered by the Pune police under Section 376 (rape) and Section 494 (bigamy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
According to the FIR, the man and the complainant were both academicians. After her husband passed away in February 2006, the man started visiting her to offer emotional support. Over time, he claimed he had separated from his wife and misled her into believing he was divorced.
Trusting him, the woman married him in June 2014, and they lived together until January 31, 2016, when he suddenly left and returned to his first wife. Later, the woman discovered that he had never divorced his first wife, and the marriage was based on a false promise.
The man’s lawyer argued that the woman knew the divorce case filed in 2010 was later withdrawn, and their relationship was consensual.
However, the High Court disagreed, stating that the man was admitting to a second marriage while still married to his first wife. The judges said that physical relations built on lies and deception satisfy the legal definition of rape under Section 376.
The Court also noted that even though the man claimed consent, it was obtained through fraud, which makes it invalid in the eyes of the law.
As a result, the Court dismissed the man’s petition, allowing the criminal proceedings to continue.
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