The Madhya Pradesh High Court held that a Muslim man’s second marriage during subsistence of the first does not constitute bigamy under Section 494 IPC. It ruled the provision is subject to Muslim personal law permitting multiple marriages under conditions.
The Madhya Pradesh High Court recently held that a Muslim man’s second marriage, entered into while his first marriage was still subsisting, does not amount to the offence of bigamy under Section 494 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Justice BP Sharma found that Section 494 IPC (now superseded by Section 82 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023) operates subject to the parties’ personal law. The judge noted that Muslim personal law allows a Muslim man to contract multiple marriages, subject to specified conditions.
The judgment reads,
“The applicability of Section 494 IPC is subject to the personal law governing the parties. Under Muslim Personal Law, a Muslim male is permitted to have more than one wife at a time, subject to the conditions recognized by the personal law,”
On that basis, the High Court quashed the bigamy charge brought against the man for marrying again while the first marriage continued.
The Court observed,
“A second marriage contracted by a Muslim male during the lifetime of his first wife is not treated as void merely on the ground that the first marriage is still subsisting. In view of this legal position, the essential ingredient of Section 494 of IPC, namely that the subsequent marriage must be void on account of the subsistence of the first marriage is not fulfilled in the present case,”
The dispute originated from a complaint by a woman who accused her husband of marital cruelty, harassment, and assault, alleging these acts stemmed from her inability to bear a child. She also claimed he committed bigamy by marrying another woman and asserted he had been pressuring her to consent to a khula (mutual divorce).
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A criminal case was registered in 2022. The complainant further alleged that her estranged husband had threatened to poison her and had encouraged her to commit suicide. A trial court later framed charges including cruelty, bigamy, wrongful confinement, and criminal intimidation.
The accused challenged the proceedings before the High Court, arguing that Muslim personal law allowed him to have multiple wives and that the other allegations were unsubstantiated. He also pointed out that in 2025 a family court had annulled his first marriage based on two pronouncements of divorce he had made in May and July 2022.
By its March 18 decision, the High Court set aside the bigamy charge, concluding that continuing that prosecution would amount to an abuse of the legal process because Muslim law permits polygamy.
The judgment stated,
“In the present case, the parties are governed by Muslim Personal Law which permits a Muslim male to have more than one wife. Thus, even if the allegations of the complainant are accepted at their face value, the act of the petitioner (Muslim man) in contracting a second marriage would not satisfy the essential ingredients of Section 494 of IPC and continuation of the prosecution for the said offence would amount to an abuse of the process of the Court,”
Also Read: Punjab and Haryana High Court Rules: Live-In Without Divorce Equals Bigamy
The Court made clear, however, that proceedings on the remaining criminal charges should continue.
It said,
“The allegations and the material collected during investigation prima facie disclose the commission of those offences (cruelty, assault, wrongful confinement, intimidation) and therefore they are required to be examined by the trial Court in accordance with law,”
Senior Advocate Anil Khare represented the petitioner, assisted by Advocate Harjas Singh Chhabra. The State was represented by Deputy Government Advocate Aatmaram Bain, and Advocate Naveen Vaswani appeared for the complainant.
Case Title: Mohd Arif Ahmed Jehangir Khan v. State of MP
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