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Marrying again during the lifetime of husband or wife, that is to say, bigamy, has been made a punishable offence under this section. The section says that whoever, having a husband or wife living marries in any case in which such marriage is void by reason of its taking place during the life of such husband or wife, shall be punished with simple or rigorous imprisonment for a term extending up to seven years, and shall also be liable to fine.
The section contemplates that the offender’s husband or wife, as the case may be, must be living and the offender must marry in any case in which such marriage is void because of the reason that it has taken place during the life of such husband or wife, as the case may be.
There is an exception attached to the section which states that this section does not extend to any person whose marriage with such husband or wife has been declared void by a court of competent jurisdiction. It also does not extend to any person who contracts a marriage during the life of a former husband or wife, if at the time of the subsequent marriage such husband or wife shall have been continually absent from such person for the space of seven years, and shall not have been heard of by such person as being alive within those seven years, provided the person contracting such subsequent marriage shall, before such marriage takes place, inform the person with whom such marriage is contracted of the real state of facts so far as the same are known to him or her.
In other words, this section is inapplicable to two cases. First, it does not apply to a person whose marriage with such husband or wife, as the case may be, has been declared void by a competent court. Secondly, it does not apply to a person who marries when the husband or the wife, as the case may be, is alive but has been continually absent from such person for at least seven years and has not been heard of by him as being alive during that time.
It is obvious that to hold a person guilty under this section it is necessary to prove that the previous marriage of the accused was valid and subsisting. Naturally, in the event of the previous marriage being illegal and thus non-existent, contracting another marriage would not bring the accused within the purview of this section.
The offence under section 494 is non-cognizable, bailable and compoundable when permitted by the court which is trying the case, and is triable by magistrate of the first class.
Advocate Jaspreet Singh Rai can be consulted for further information at [ Ссылка ] or [ Ссылка ]
