Bigamy Ground For Divorce -

INTRODUCTION
Indian culture regards marriage as a pure sacrament in which two lives are joined together for their whole life and not mere a contract. However, there are certain instances where one spouse cheats with another by marrying another person during the subsistence of the already existing marriage, which is also termed committing the offence of Bigamy.
Although bigamy in itself is an offense, the main reason behind bigamy being a ground for filing divorce lies in the very fact that when there is already a marriage in existence between two partners, then by going through another marriage, the other partner is thereby deprived of the rights to which the person was wholly entitled by law during the subsistence of the marriage. Not only this, but it is also regarded as immoral for the first partner to start a new life with another person at the expense of the happiness of the previous partner with whom there is already a marriage in existence.
Therefore, bigamy is regarded as an offence both morally and legally committed against the first spouse from the first marriage, and in order to provide relief to the first spouse, bigamy becomes a ground for seeking divorce. In other words, filing for divorce in lieu of the second marriage by the other spouse also acts as a remedy for the aggrieved spouse.

BIGAMY AS A GROUND FOR SEEKING DIVORCE
It is to be understood that for bigamy to become a ground for divorce, it needs to first be proven that bigamy was committed by the person accused. Bigamy is in itself an offense, but it exists in societies where it is legally accepted, and therefore, in those instances, bigamy cannot be regarded as a ground for seeking divorce. In Hindu, Parsi, and Christian personal laws, bigamy is an offence for which they have imposed punishments, but there is no prohibition on bigamy under the Muslim Personal Law, according to which a Muslim man can have four wives at the same time. Therefore, bigamy is currently prohibited in all religions and their personal laws, except in Islam, where bigamy is allowed.
In instances where bigamy is prohibited, which renders the second marriage invalid, it needs to be understood that only the spouse from the first marriage can seek divorce, as the parties involved in the second marriage do not have to file for divorce again as there was no valid marriage in existence in the very first place.
It is to be noted that, as per Section 13(2)(i) of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, in a situation where a husband is already married before this act of 1995 takes effect and later, after the enactment of this act, he remarries to another woman, either of the two wives may file for divorce. The only condition is that the divorce petition will be granted if the other wife was still alive at the time of presenting the complaint.

ESSENTIALS OF BIGAMY TO BE A GROUND FOR DIVORCE
In order to make Bigamy a ground for seeking divorce, the following essentials for Bigamy need to be considered:

Bigamy can only be said to have been committed if a person marries again to another person when there is a valid marriage already in existence at the time of the second marriage. If the first marriage was not valid in itself, then the accused cannot be said to be committing bigamy, as there was no first marriage in existence in the very first place. In those cases, if the first marriage is void, then the second marriage will prevail.

Now, in order to determine whether the 1st marriage was valid or void, the validity of the 1st marriage needs to be proved, which can be done by showing that the marriage was performed according to the laws of the country in which the marriage was performed and all the ceremonies were performed and fulfilled necessarily as per the customs and practices of the particular community of the couple.

The second essential is that the accused spouse must have married again to another person. It is to be understood that the offence of bigamy can only be said to have been committed when the said second marriage happened validly. This essential condition is the primary condition that forms the basis for the offense in the first place. Not only the existence of marriage, but it also needs to be proved that the second marriage was a valid one. In other words, the second marriage must be valid as per the personal laws of the communities.
Though there is a necessity for the first marriage to be valid both as per the law of the country and the ceremonies and customs, in the case of the second marriage, it is only required to be valid with respect to the ceremonies in order for it to be a bigamous marriage and therefore void marriage.
The third essential element is that the first marriage must be in existence during the time of the second marriage. If the first marriage was already dissolved by divorce or annulment before the second took place, then the second marriage will be a valid one. And therefore, the offense of bigamy cannot be indicted.

UNINTENTIONAL BIGAMY
As a general rule when a person marries another person where one party is already legally married to someone else, then the second marriage will be void ab initio. In this case, the party who is already legally married needs to annul his already existing marriage first, and then only he will be able to legally marry another person
There are certain instances in which a person marries again but is still not liable for bigamy. Like in the case of Sankaran Sukumaran v. Krishnan Saraswathy & Another (1984 CriLJ 317), the accused was of the impression that her husband was dead, due to which she got married again, but that was a mistake as she honestly believed that her husband had already died. Therefore, there was no intention to commit bigamy. The Kerala High Court said in this case that if a person charged with bigamy honestly believed that he was legally free to marry again, then in that situation it cannot be said that the offence of bigamy was committed either intentionally or recklessly, and the question of whether the belief was unreasonable is irrelevant. Therefore, it can be said that in certain exceptional circumstances, a person who has indulged in having a second marriage cannot be held liable for the offence of bigamy. But still, bigamy, if committed, will be grounds to seek divorce, provided all the essentials of bigamy are fulfilled. And it is the duty of the person seeking a second marriage to make sure his previously existing marriage is annulled before engaging in a second marriage.