Bigamy a continuing offence, consent of first wife immaterial for its consideration: Karnataka High Court

The Karnataka High Court has held that the offence of bigamy being committed with the consent of the first wife or with the consent of the first and second wives for the third time is immaterial for consideration of such offence.

A single judge bench has further held that when it is an admitted fact by the offender that he has married thrice and all the marriages subsist even as on day, the plea of delay in registration of the crime would pale into insignificance, as bigamy is a continuing offence.

Justice M. Nagaprasanna relied on the case of State of Bihar v. Deokaran Nenshi and Another where the Apex Court held that a continuing offence is one which is susceptible of continuance and is distinguishable from the one which is committed once and for all.

High Court made these observations while partly allowing a criminal petition filed under Section 482 CrPC by one Anand C, his third wife and his relatives praying to quash a complaint filed by Anand's first wife pending before the Principal Civil Judge & JMFC, Channapatna initiated for offences punishable under Sections 494 and 109 of IPC r/w. Section 34 of the IPC.

In this case, Anand aged 76 years is the husband of the complainant- first wife Chandramma who was aged 69 years. They got married in 1968. In 1972-73 Anand with the consent of his first wife married one Smt. Savitramma who is the sister of his first wife. He again got married in the year 1993 with the second petitioner, Smt. Varalakshmi, with the permission and consent of the 1st and 2nd wives.

In 2015, a gift deed was registered by Anand in favour of Varalakshmi, his third wife of a particular property. Likewise, another property was also gifted to the third wife. These gifts did not go well with the first wife who sent a legal notice to Anand and his third wife contending that they had gotten married on suppression of earlier marriage that took place between her and Anand.

The first wife also filed a private complaint invoking Section 200 of the CrPC against Anand and his third wife alleging offences punishable under Section 494 of the IPC for bigamy, Section 109 of the IPC for abatement and Section 34 of the IPC, which led to the instant criminal petition.

High Court noted that the facts were not disputed by Anand and his third wife and the only question that arose for its consideration was,“Whether the offence of bigamy is a continuing offence or the proceedings instituted for offence punishable for bigamy under Section 494 of the Cr.P.C. can be obliterated on the ground of delay?

Court observed that the first wife being aware of subsequent marriages was not legally immaterial.

"In the teeth of the admitted fact, no further interpretation need be given, as even today, the 1st petitioner admits that he is the husband of three women. Therefore, he is in the web of the offence punishable under Section 494 of the IPC. The proceedings against the 1st and 2nd petitioners cannot be quashed as the offence is admitted by the 1st petitioner in the petition. It being with the consent of the 1st wife or with the consent of the 1st and 2nd wives for the third time would become immaterial for consideration of offence of bigamy...", said the Court.

Furthermore, it was held that other relatives of the petitioner-husband who are family members or friends of his could not be hauled into these proceedings unless there were instances to demonstrate that they were responsible for the commission of second marriage or even the third marriage.

Thus, noting that dragging all other members of the family and friends into the web of these proceedings sans countenance, the criminal proceedings against them were quashed by the High Court while the petition with regard to the husband and third wife came to be dismissed.

Case Title: Sri Anand C. and Ors vs. Smt Chandramma