Man can marry multiple times if he treats wives equally: Allahabad HC
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New Delhi: A Muslim man is entitled to marry multiple times as long as he treats his wives equally, the Allahabad High Court observed. The court noted that the Quran permits polygamy conditionally for a “valid reason”, but men misuse it for selfish reasons, NDTV reported.
The court was hearing a petition that sought quashing of a chargesheet, cognisance, and summons order against a man named Furkan by a Moradabad court.
The case in question is from 2020, where a woman filed a complaint against Fukran for marrying her without informing her that he was already married to another woman. The woman also accused Fukran of marital rape. Moradabad Police had registered a case against Fukran and two others based on the woman’s complaint.
According to NDTV, a Fukran advocate argued in the Moradabad court that the woman had admitted that she married Furkan after having a relationship with him. Also, the counsel argued that the second marriage should be invalid to attract offence under Indian Penal Code (IPC) Section 494 - marrying a person while already being married to another.
A bench of Justice Arun Kumar Singh Deswal, who made the observation that a man can have two wives, advocated for the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) and said that the accused did not commit any offence as a Muslim man since he is allowed to marry up to four times. Saying that there is a historical reason behind the Quran allowing polygamy, the court ruled that all issues related to marriage and divorce should be decided with respect to the Shariat Act, 1937. The court said in its 18-page judgement that Fukran’s second marriage is valid since his wives are Muslim.
