When the monarchy first came into being, the king was permitted to have more than one wife. Every time a king conquered another kingdom by assassinating the ruler of that kingdom, he then we'd that queen, or occasionally, he did it to expand his realm by buying that kingdom, in which case he consented to wed the princess. India is well known for its rich cultural diversity and for being able to switch between languages and cultures almost every five to six kilometers. Given that there are so many different religions in India, each one has its own set of rules, some of which also have laws governing marriage. While several marriages are permitted in various religions, some governments only permit one marriage.

Laws Regarding Second Marriage without Divorce

• The conditions necessary to recognize marriage as valid are discussed in Section 5 of the Hindu Marriage Act. The husband or wife of the parties must not be alive at the time of the marriage, must not be alive, or the first marriage must have been dissolved at the time of the second marriage for the second marriage to not be deemed invalid under Section 11 of The Hindu Marriage Act.
• According to Section 494 of the Indian Penal Code, bigamy, which is a serious offense, is committed when a person marries when his or her spouse or wife is still living at the time of the marriage. If the husband or wife suspects cheating, they may also report it under Section 415 of the Indian Penal Code.
• The presumption clause specifies the facts regarding human actions under section 114 of the Evidence Act.
• Bigamy is a crime under sections 494 and 495 of the Indian Penal Code, according to section 44 of the Special Marriage Act.

Facts

The marriage took place in 2009. Although the wife had previously wed a guy, a divorce was granted in 2008. Her first spouse, however, had chosen to challenge the divorce ruling. The wife acknowledged learning of her first husband's appeal status in December 2008, but the appeal was dropped after more than four years in 2012.

The second husband then preferred to file a petition to have the marriage annulled because the wife's former marriage was still active due to disputes between the parties in their second marriage. He asserted that the wife's marriage occurred during the prior marriage's continuation and was therefore invalid.

Judgment

According to the Delhi High Court, the assent of such parties cannot grant legitimacy to the second marriage whenever there is a legal prohibition on its performance when either spouse of the parties is still alive. In this instance, both parties were aware that the parties had gotten married while the appeal was pending. The court determined that the dissolution of the first marriage was not confirmed under Section 15 of the HMA, 1955, and that the marriage still existed on April 28, 2009, the date the appellant wed the respondent in this case, which was against Section 5(i) of the HMA, 1955.

It further stated that even though the wife had already wed the second husband, she continued to make maintenance claims against the first husband in the ongoing appeal that had been approved in September 2009. The sheer fact that the appellant requested and accepted pendente lite support from the first spouse throughout the appeal strengthens the argument that the union was not ultimately dissolved. As a result, the learned Family Court judge correctly ruled the parties' marriage to be null and void by Section 11 of the HMA, 1955.

Therefore, it is concluded that a second marriage without a divorce is unlawful in India unless personal law or tradition specifically permits it. The majority of marriages in India are conducted by personal law, and either there is a specific provision that declares a second marriage void even though the first marriage is not dissolved or there is another provision that indirectly declares the second marriage void, such as in Christian law.

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