Man jailed for marriage without wife’s permission

Defendant fails to prove having divorced first spouse

LAHORE:

A magistrate sent a man to jail for six months for solemnising second marriage without the consent of his first wife after he failed to prove their divorce.

The convict had claimed that he had divorced his first wife before his second marriage. His first wife alleged that he had married again without her and an arbitration council's permission.

The counsel for the accused contended that he had divorced the complainant through a deed on April 1, 2017 in pursuance of triple notices issued to her and the secretary of the union council concerned. He said the condition of seeking the permission was no more relevant.

He alleged that a report submitted by the union council had been prepared by its secretary in connivance with the complainant and had no relevance for non-issuance of notice under Section 7 of The Muslim Family Law Ordinance, 1961.

The counsel also alleged that the witnesses presented by the complainant were her close relatives and inimical towards his client.

The counsel for the complainant stated that the accused had admitted the second marriage in statement under Section 342 of The Code Of Criminal Procedure, 1898 and failed to prove effectiveness of the divorce. The witnesses had stood firm during lengthy cross-examination.

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The lawyer said the prosecution had succeeded to prove the case and the UC secretary had also appeared as a prosecution witness and deposed about the absence of the notices of divorce in the record.

The complainant, Parveen Akhtar, told the court that she had married the accused in 2011 and the couple had one child.

Accused married Nadia Kanwal on May 25, 2017 without seeking permission from her and the arbitration council, and ousted her and her child from his house.

She also contender during cross-examination that the defendant had not divorced her.

She refuted a claim by the defence counsel that a property dispute had resulted in her divorce.

UC secretary Shabbir Ahmed stated that only the Nikah and divorce deeds registered by the persons concerned were noted in the registers.

He said he could not recall the number of such registrations made in his UC between October 2, 2019 and January 6 this year.

The court handed down six-month imprisonment to the defendant under the Muslim Family Laws Ordinance and imposed a fine of Rs500,000.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 27^th, 2021.