The Bombay High Court recently ruled that a man who marries again while his first marriage is still valid is guilty of not only bigamy but also rape. The court stated that deceiving a woman into marrying under false promises and establishing a physical relationship amounts to a serious offense.
On August 24, Justices Nitin Sambre and Rajesh Patil dismissed a petition by a man seeking to quash an FIR filed against him by the Pune Police under Section 376 (rape) and Section 494 (bigamy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The case began when the man, an academician, started visiting a woman after her husband passed away in 2006, offering her emotional support. He led the woman to believe that he had divorced his first wife, and they married in June 2014.
The couple lived together until January 2016, when the man left her and returned to his first wife. Upon investigation, the woman discovered that the man had lied about his divorce. He had never actually separated from his first wife, and his second marriage was based on false promises.
The man’s defense claimed that the woman was aware he had withdrawn divorce proceedings initiated in 2010. However, the court found that his actions constituted both bigamy and rape. Establishing a physical relationship under the false pretense of divorce met the requirements for a rape charge under Section 376 of the IPC.
The judges concluded that since the man’s first marriage was still legally valid, his second marriage was illegal, and the physical relationship with the woman was based on deceit. As a result, the court dismissed the man’s petition.
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