Bigamy. By the Offences against the Person Act, 1861, s. 57, whomsoever, being married, shall marry any other person during the life of the former husband or wife . . . shall be guilty of a felony punishable by penal servitude for not more than seven years, or less than three, or by imprisonment for not more than two years, with or without hard labour. That section, however, does not apply to any second marriage contracted elsewhere than in England and Ireland by any other than a subject of His Majesty or to any person whose husband or wife shall have been continually absent for seven years from such person, and shall not have been known to such person to be living within that time; or even, as was held in Reg. v. Tolson, (1889) 23 QBD 168, by nine judges to five, to a person re-marrying within the seven years with a bona fide belief on reasonable grounds in the death of the first husband before the second marriage. Bigamy will have been committed though the second form of marriage was celebrated beyond the king's dominions, R. v. Russell (Earl), 1901 AC 446, and the indictment need not aver that the accused was a British subject, R. v. Audley, (1907) 1 KB 383.
(ii) when a person contracts a second marriage after the coming into force of the Hindu Marriage Act, while the first marriage is subsisting he commits the offence of bigamy. (S. 494 of Indian Penal Code 1860). Gopal Lal v. State of Rajasthan, (1979) 2 SCC 170: AIR 1979 SC 713: (1979) 2 SCR 1171.
Second marriage of Hindu husband after his conversion to Islam is void marriage in terms of section 494, IPC. It is violative of justice, equity and good conscience. It would also be in violation of rules of natural justice, Sarla Mudgal v. Union of India, (1995) 3 SCC 635: AIR 1995 SC 1531. (Indian Penal Code, 1860, s. 494)
Means the crime of marrying someone while still legally married to someone else, Webster's Dictionary of Law, Indian Edn. (2005), p. 49.
Means proof of a second marriage by the accused with some person other than the lawful spouse, R. v. Curgerben, (1865) ILR 1 CCR 1; R. v. Tolson, (1889) 2 QBD 168.
Bigamy, is the act of marrying one person while legally married to another. Bigamy is a criminal offence if it is committed knowingly, Black Law Dictionary, 7th Edn., p. 154.
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