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Muslim man can't be charged for bigamy under Mohammedan law: Allahabad HC
A single bench of Justice Arun Kumar Singh Deshwal ruled that a Muslim man can be charged with the offence of bigamy if the first marriage was conducted under the Special Marriage Act, Foreign Marriage Act, Christian Marriage Act, Parsi Marriage and Divorce Act, or the Hindu Marriage Act, and the second marriage is performed under Mohammedan law after converting to Islam, according to Bar and Bench.
He made these remarks while hearing a plea to quash the chargesheet, cognisance and summons ordered against a man, Furkan, issued by a court in Moradabad. The case pertains to when a woman filed a complaint against Furkan, alleging that when she married him, he was already married, and it was not disclosed to her. However, the petitioner argued that the law allows him to marry up to four times.
According to an NDTV report, the woman also alleged that she was raped by Furkan. However, his counsel in the Moradabad court argued that the woman admitted to marrying Furkan after having a relationship with him.
The court also shed light on polygamy and stressed that the Quran allows it for a fair reason; however, men have used it for selfish reasons. Justice Deshwal further added, "There was a time in history when a large number of women were widowed, and children were orphaned in primitive tribal tussles in Arabs. The Muslims suffered heavy casualties in defending the nascent Islamic community in Medina. It was under such circumstances that the Quran allowed conditional polygamy to protect orphans and their mothers from exploitation."
The court further clarified that polygamy mentioned in the Quran is conditional. It said, "It is clear that the Quran asks men first to consider taking care of the orphans and only when they think they may not be able to do justice to the orphans' interests while staying in isolation, should they consider marrying their widowed mothers, on the condition that the new family would be dealt with justly on par with the existing one."
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Indian Express
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His extended family of 30, including his four brothers, live in the three adjoining houses. Sheikh's uncle Hakiumuddin served in the Indian Army and fought in the Kargil War. Hakimuddin currently lives in Pratapgarh. Hakimuddin's uncle – Sheikh's great-uncle – was also an Indian Army war veteran: he fought in the 1965 war against Pakistan and later in 1971. Several members of the family have served in the Indian army. Sheikh said five to seven men kept barging into the house while the rest stood outside and called them 'Bangladeshis'. 'We showed them our Aadhaar card, our PAN card,' he said. 'But they said the documents were fake.' Sheikh said that people in the mob identified themselves as Bajrang Dal members. The mob forced Sheikh's family to go to the Chandan Nagar police station. 'One person identified himself as a policeman,' said Sheikh. 'He was in plain clothes. He said the women and children could stay behind.' Sheikh, his brothers, uncle and their sons, and their neighbours Salman and his brother took their identification documents to the Chandan Nagar police station and waited there till 2.30 am. 'The police inspector told us to come again by 11 am the next day,' said Sheikh. 'She said that if we didn't come, we would be declared as Bangladeshis.' Chandan Nagar Police Inspector Dhakne refuted the allegation that she had threatened to declare the Sheikh family as Bangladeshis. 'I just asked them to return and submit their documents the next day,' Dhakne told Scroll. The family returned to the police station with their documents the next day. 'After that nobody harassed us,' said Sheikh. Policemen in plainclothes were with the mob, alleged the families, which the police later confirmed. 'The tip' Dhakne said that the Bajrang Dal told the police that some men from Assam were living in the area. She said the police team went directly to the spot with Bajrang Dal members without making any other inquiries. 'We suspected them to be Bangladeshis,' she said. 'If we get a tip, we will visit the spot. Some of our officers from the detection team wore civil clothes.' Dhakne added: 'We ask the suspects to show identification proof, details of native village, the local police station and we verify their details and leave them. The same protocol was carried out in this case.' In the initial FIR against the Hindutva mob, the police invoked sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanahita for unlawful assembly, disobeying public servants and creating public nuisance. But outrage grew over the harassment of a Kargil war veteran's family. The 26th anniversary of the Kargil War was marked across India on the same day – July 26. The police have added more stringent charges under Section 115 for causing voluntary hurt, Section 329 for criminal trespass, Section 353 for circulating false information and Section 299 for outraging religious feelings. Deputy commissioner of Police Somay Munde did not respond to calls or messages from Scroll. Officials from the Mumbai police told Scroll that they usually check the call data records of suspects to see if any phone calls have been made or received from Bangladesh before detaining people for questioning. However, Dhakne said they 'did not verify call records'. 'Police complicit' Milind Champanerkar, general secretary of People's Union for Civil Liberties, said it was a worrying pattern that 'even the police is complicit in anti-Muslim agenda'. 'About three months ago a Muslim salon owner was assaulted in Pune's Kothrud area because of his faith,' said Champanerkar. 'But the police did nothing, did not detain or arrest anyone.' Champanerkar said the police are dutybound to safeguard citizens. 'How can the police allow the Bajrang Dal to take the lead?' he asked, pointing out that no one from the outfit had been arrested so far for intruding into the homes of others. Firoz Khan, who runs a charitable organisation and is a member of the Republican Party of India in Pune, said communal incidents have increased lately. 'And all this is happening with complete knowledge of the police,' he said.
