Bombay High Court allows Muslim man to register third marriage, cites personal laws
- In Reports
- 04:48 PM, Oct 22, 2024
- Myind Staff
In a recent judgment, the Bombay High Court ruled that a Muslim man can register multiple marriages as permitted under Muslim personal laws. The decision came after a Muslim man sought to register his third marriage with a woman from Algeria. The authorities had initially rejected his application on the grounds that the Maharashtra Regulation of Marriage Bureaus and Registration of Marriages Act only allows for the registration of a single marriage.
A division bench of Justices B P Colabawalla and Somasekhar Sundaresan, in their October 15 ruling, directed the Deputy Marriage Registrar of the Thane Municipal Corporation to reconsider the man’s application, which he had filed in February 2022. The couple had petitioned the court after their request for a marriage certificate was turned down, with the authorities arguing that multiple marriages could not be registered under the Act.
The court, however, termed the authorities’ refusal as "wholly misconceived" and noted that nothing in the Act precludes the registration of more than one marriage for Muslim men. The bench emphasised that Muslim personal laws allow for up to four wives at a time, and the Act does not override these laws.
"Under the personal laws for Muslims, they are entitled to have four wives at a time. Once this is the case, we are unable to accept the submission of the authorities that under the provisions of the Maharashtra Regulation of Marriage Bureaus and Registration of Marriages Act, only one marriage can be registered, even in the case of a Muslim male," the court stated.
The court further noted that the same authorities had previously registered the petitioner’s second marriage, making their current refusal inconsistent. Additionally, the authorities had cited the absence of certain documents as another reason for rejecting the application. In response, the court directed the petitioners to submit all relevant documents within two weeks.
Once the documents are provided, the Thane Municipal Corporation must hold a personal hearing and issue a decision on the registration within ten days. Until then, the court ordered that no coercive action be taken against the petitioner’s third wife, whose passport expired in May this year.
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