Hindu woman will be deprived of all legal rights by being the second wife of a Muslim man: Gauhati H

• Image Credit: Internet

• Sep 13, 2021 | Deleted

Guwahati: In a recent judgement, the Gauhati High Court on September 6, 2021 declared that Section 4 of the Special Marriage Act does not save a second marriage done by a Muslim man with a Hindu woman, and thus it will be void.

According to Section 4 of the Special Marriage Act, one of the conditions relating to sanctification of special marriages, is that neither party should have a spouse living.

In the case, Dipamani Kalita Vs The State of Assam and 5 ORS, the petitioner women, who was a second wife of a Muslim man, approached the court after she was distressed by non-sanctioning of pension and other pensionary benefits after the death of her husband in a road accident.

Report said, the issue in this case was whether the applicant, being a Hindu and married to a Muslim man , under the Special Marriage Act, 1954 would be entitled to pension and other pensionary benefits or not.

Pointing to Section 4 of the Act and also the Supreme Court judgement in Md. Salim Ali Vs Shamshudeen, Gauhati High Court observed that section 4 of the Special Marriage Act, 1954, does not save a second marriage done by a Mohammadan male.

Later, the applicant gratified that, under section 24 of the Special Marriage Act, it was incumbent on part of the wife to have the marriage between the petitioner and her husband declared to be void.

While nullifying the applicant order, the court stated that the minor son of the petitioner would still be entitled to his share on the pension and other pensionary benefits of his deceases father.