A Muslim man can register multiple marriages, as permitted under their personal laws, the Bombay High Court ruled in a case involving a man seeking to register his third marriage.
On October 15, a Division Bench of Justices B.P. Colabawalla and Somasekhar Sundaresan instructed the deputy marriage registration office of Thane Municipal Corporation to process the man's application, which was filed in February last year. The application pertained to his third marriage with a woman from Algeria.
The man and his third wife sought a marriage certificate, claiming their request had been denied because it was his third union. The authorities rejected the registration based on the Maharashtra Regulation of Marriage Bureaus and Registration of Marriages Act, which, according to them, recognizes only one marriage.
However, the court dismissed this interpretation, calling it "wholly misconceived." The judges noted that nothing in the Act prevents a Muslim man from registering a third marriage.
"Muslim personal laws allow men to have up to four wives at a time," the court said, adding that they could not accept the authorities’ argument that the Act only allows one registered marriage for Muslim men.
The bench further clarified that if the authorities’ position were accepted, it would imply that the Maharashtra Act overrides Muslim personal laws, which is not the case. The court emphasized that there is no indication in the Act that Muslim personal laws are excluded.
Ironically, the same authorities had previously registered the man's second marriage. The court also addressed the claim that certain documents were missing, instructing the petitioners to submit the required documents within two weeks.
The court ordered the authorities to hold a personal hearing for the couple and decide on the registration within ten days of receiving the documents. Additionally, the court directed that no coercive action be taken against the woman, whose passport had expired in May this year.
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