Gauhati High Court quashes bigamy case, notes Muslim personal law permits up to four marriages

Justice Mridul Kumar Kalita allows a Muslim man’s plea to quash case against him for bigamy.

Second marriage

• A wife had lodged an FIR before the office-in-charge of Gauripur Police Station on August 4, 2025, alleging that her husband used to torture her after her marriage.
• She also alleged that her husband married during subsistence of their marriage and married another woman on August 4, 2025.
• Investigation was conducted; after the completion of the investigation, a charge-sheet was laid against the husband under Section 82(2)/83 (address offences related to fraudulent and illegal marriages) of BNS, 2023. 
• Consequently, a case was registered before the court of the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Dhubri.

‘Law permits four wives’

Senior counsel H R A Choudhury, on behalf of the husband, argued that Section 82 (criminal offence of bigamy) of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 is only applicable when it takes place while the spouse is still alive.

He contended that the Muslim personal law permits a Muslim man up to four wives, and does not attract Section 82 of the BNS after the second marriage.

 Therefore, he submitted that the continuation of the present proceeding would amount to abuse of law, and prayed that it should be quashed.

On the other hand, B Sarma, counsel representing the wife, argued that her husband used to torture her after the marriage and already there had been a complaint registered against him under Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code by the wife.

It was argued that even if the personal allows a muslim man to marry another woman despite having a wife, it’s the moral obligation of the husband to intimate his second wife about the existence of his first marriage and on its failure, he may be regarded as having committed offence under Section 82(2) (gives up to 10 years in jail if someone hides their first marriage before remarrying)  of BNS.

Additional Public Prosecutor K Baishya submitted that under the Assam Compulsory Registration of Muslim Marriages and Divorces Act, 2024, it was mandatory to get the Muslim marriages registered.

It was contended that there was nothing on record to show that the petitioner’s second marriage was registered under the aforementioned Act, but it was also fairly conceded that mere non-registration of such marriage would not make the second marriage void in itself.

‘Not bigamy’

The Gauhati High Court observed that for an offence to fall under the ambit of Section 82(!) of the BNS, the second marriage must be void being contracted while the existence of the first marriage.

It was noted that an offence under Section 82(2) could only arise if all the exquisite condition unde Section 82(1) were satisfied, and Section 83 applies when a muslim man knowingly performs the ceremony of an illegal marriage, making it inapplicable as the husband’s second marriage is not an illegal marriage.

Underlining the observation from the Bombay High Court and Kerala High Court, the court noted that Section 82 of BNS is the same as Section 494 IPC, according to which a void second marriage was an essential element for attracting the offence of bigamy.

The court further said that under personal law, a muslim man was permitted to have up to four wives simultaneously, and his second marriage could not be treated as void merely because his first marriage existed; therefore, the husband could not be prosecuted under Section 82 BNS for marrying a second woman.

Subsequently, the court observed that Section 82 could only apply to a Muslim man if he contracts a fifth marriage while the other four are still subsisting, as such a marriage would be void under personal law, and allowed the plea.