Read Time: 06 minutes

Synopsis

The Karnataka High Court has come to rescue of a woman by quashing the criminal proceedings initiated against her in a bigamy case, after finding that she herself got deceived into marriage but had retraced her steps by seeking a divorce.

The woman-petitioner filed a plea under Section 482 of the Criminal Procedure Code for quashing the entire proceedings initiated on lodging an FIR under Sections 494, 417 and 420 of the Indian Penal Code with Banaswadi police station in Bengaluru in 2017.

It was alleged she had married the husband of the complainant during the subsistence of marriage with her when he returned from the United Kingdom in 2006.

The police, after the investigation, filed a charge sheet against her, making her second accused in the case, forcing her to approach the High Court for quashing the proceedings.

Her counsel contended before the court that the petitioner who, currently resided in Pemberton, Canada, herself was deceived by the husband of the complainant, as he had produced the forged copy of an order of the court depicting divorce with the second respondent (first wife) and therefore, she had married him. 

He would submit that the moment the petitioner came to know of the deceit she applied and secured a divorce from the competent court. 

The complainant's counsel, while seeking to refute the submissions, contended that it is her husband who has cheated the petitioner by marrying her during the subsistence of marriage with the complainant. Therefore, he would leave the decision to the court. 

Dealing with the matter, Justice M Nagaprasanna said the man and the complainant after their marriage in year 2004, proceeded to United Kingdom for their avocation. However, certain dispute between them arose. In the interregnum, the man came back to India and then married the petitioner herein. 

The marriage happens on the ground that the man has divorced the complainant on production of a purported order copy of a court of law, though the previous marriage was still subsisting, as there was no such order of court of law granting divorce of the couple i.e., the complainant and the man, the court noted. 

After coming to know of the falsity of the claim by the man, the court found that the woman petitioner has approached a court in Kerala which granted her divorce.

"Therefore..., I have no hesitation to hold that the petitioner herself was deceived and was lured into marriage. On coming to know of this, the petitioner has retraced her steps and sought divorce. Therefore, the offence under Section 494 can hardly be laid against the petitioner. In the teeth of the aforesaid peculiar facts. If further proceedings are permitted to continue, it would become an abuse of the process of the law and results in miscarriage of justice," Justice Nagaprasanna said.

Case Title: Deepa Kunjuman Vs State of Karnataka