A man’s 2nd wife can't be called his legally wed spouse even if she was kept in the dark about his first marriage, the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court has observed while rejecting a woman’s plea for restitution of conjugal rights and maintenance from her husband. The 47-year-old woman moved to the HC in 2012 after a family court refused to accept her claim of being the 66-year-old man’s legally wed wife.
On Thursday, a vision bench of Justice AS Chandurkar and Justice GA Sanap said that “Even if it is assumed for the sake of argument that the appellant [second wife] had been kept in dark about the first marriage of the respondent [husband] with Chandrakala in the year 1990, on proof of the said fact, the contention of the appellant that she is legally wedded wife of the respondent cannot be accepted".
Chandrakala pleaded the family Court discarded her evidence and testimony of witnesses supporting her claim that she married the 66-year-old in accordance with their rites and customs in Aug 2003. She added they lived together for over five years. She claimed the man deserted her in Oct 2008 when she refused to pay him ₹50,000. Chandrakala said the man’s relatives beat her when she eventually traced him.
The man denied having married Chandrakala and said he got married in 1990 and divorced in 2009. Thus, he claimed, in any case, the 2nd marriage was void.
The HC accepted his contention and held Chandrakala was not his legally wedded wife as he was yet to get divorced at the time of the 2nd marriage. Chandrakala admitted in her cross-examination that she knew about his first marriage.
The bench rejected her contention that she was entitled to maintenance on account of the five years of cohabitation even if her marriage was held to be void.
Read Judgment
Source Link
Social media is bold.
Social media is young.
Social media raises questions.
Social media is not satisfied with an answer.
Social media looks at the big picture.
Social media is interested in every detail.
social media is curious.
Social media is free.
Social media is irreplaceable.
But never irrelevant.
Social media is you.
(With input from news agency language)
If you like this story, share it with a friend!
We are a non-profit organization. Help us financially to keep our journalism free from government and corporate pressure
0 Comments