Social stigma forces many to accept bigamy: study

The most common reasons for making complaints included physical abuse,liquor abuse,maintenance,extra-marital relationships and bigamy. However,only 10 cases have been registered under Section 494 of IPC that deals with laws relating to bigamy. In Beed,a total of 74 cases were registered under Section 494. Among other districts,Chandrapura tops the list of bigamy/extra-marital relationships complaints with 137 cases between 2007 and 2010,according to police records,but none of these cases were registered under Section 494. Hingoli,Vashim and Usmanabad had 28,54 and 20 such complaints respectively. “Due to social stigma and fear of being abandoned by husband,as well as lack of financial independence,most women we approached said they had accepted a second wife. The first wife is reluctant to prosecute her husband considering the fact that he is the father of her children”,said Nita Patel,a therapist and counsellor,based in London,and a researcher for Chetna for this study. She later added that the biggest problem with bigamy is that often the first wife does not know of the existence of a second wife until property related disputes start cropping up. In India,registration of marriage is not compulsory till today,which further complicates the matter,according to Patel.

The last census that included data on bigamy was way back in 1964. Lack of proper documentation of such cases was a major problem faced by the researchers during the study.