I got married last year Oct 2011 in India in a temple presence of relatives,the marriage not yet registered.

I was an NRI during the time of marriage and holding Indian passport.I was already married to a Belgian citizen and our divorce process was still going on,this is something which i have already informed to the girl and her parents before marriage but they insisted me to get married soon and i got an official divorce in Belgium in Dec 2011.

In this situation is my marriage in India illegal as i got married before getting divorce and if yes then will i be prosecuted for bigamy ? Now the girl and her family are saying that i never told them about my previous marriage and trying to extort money from my family and asking for divorce.I got a Belgian citizenship on March 2012 and i am neither holding Indian citizenship or having a PIO card.In this situation what are the consequences which i should face ?

Dear Querist,

You are liable to criminal prosecution for the offence of bigamy u/s 494 IPC, punishable with an imprisonment of up to 7 years, notwithstanding the fact that your current wife knew at the time of your second marriage that your first marriage was still subsisting. Contact an advocate to prepare your defence.

Regards,

Ashish Davessar

Advocate

Will my wife also get prosecuted for bigamy as she married  me knowing that i am not legally divorced or she could just escape saying that she knew nothing.

As the marriage is not registered so its not recognised in Belgium so i will not be prosecuted here and as per the law here my marriage in a Indian temple is not valid.What all cases she can file againt me in India ?

Dear Mr.Mukund, 

After reading the facts I have the following to opine :-

1. Your marriage with this lady is VOID, since you are a Hindu and you were already married at the time of marriage. 

2. The fact that girl's side knew about this would be most material (if you have evidences to that effect) - in a way I'd tell you - you can threaten to implicate them if they try to extort you about this implication - you can tell them that you knew about it, and still went ahead - if I go down behind the bars in bigamy case I'd take you along as all of you are co-accused, as you intentionallly facilitated the commission of this offence knowing it to be an offence. This should set them right. 

3. You are as it is liable for bigamy as mentioned above, and sadly India signed an extradition treaty with Belgium way back in the 1950's which would facilitate your extradition here if the police moves in for it. 

Feel free to talk with complete facts !

Regards,

Bharat Chugh

Advocate

In addition to the above they can try implicating you in 498A/406 cases for dowry harassment - which is the most abused provision in India. Be on the watch for that !

Good Luck !

There are many terrorists and hard criminals who could not be extradicted,in this case do you think that the country will extradict a person for bigamy as in other countries this is dealt in family court.Also a foreign country does not recognize a temple marriage till its not registered then how can the Indian police initiate extradiction ?

Also as dowry is not recognised outside India so 498a cannot be used to extradict.

I understand that extradition always requires DOUBLE CRIMINALITY - the act/ommission should be criminal/culpable in both the countries - the country of crime and the country which seeks extradition. But anyone who knows anything about extradition would tell you that all the necessary conditions are not required to be in duplicate in both the countries. The chances are very bleak, but never ever one shoud take chances with this :- In my view :

i) Torture for Dowry is not an offence in Belgium - but 498A is not all about cruelty for dowry - it includes cruelty simplicitor as well, and Belgium is sure to have a domestic violence law - which includes mental cruelty - so you've got it covered there ;

ii) on the count of bigamy - a look at Belgian laws would come handy to you. 

Hope this helps !

In India unless the marriage is registered under law it is not legalised.

Also as per the Hindu marriage act one of the reason for marriage annulment is "Either spouse was already married to someone else at the time of the marriage in question"
In this case when my marriage itself is VOID then how can one file a case of bigamy or 498a when the law itself says its VOID ?

Also  Hindu Marriage Act 1955 is only applicable when the marriage is registered under this act but only a temple marriage with some video and photo proof will really make the marriage valid ?

None of the foreign embassies recognize a temple marriage and they only recognize a marriage is registered and duly attested by MEA then how can one really go ahead with the case of bigamy ?

As far as my knowledge goes, limited as it is, it is the Belgian wife who can take criminal action against you because she is the aggrieved party.

The Indian wife can claim at the most that you cheated her (section 420 etc) by hiding the first marriage from her but this has to be proven.

it may be argued that it is the duty of both parties to verify that there is no prior marriage that is a bar to the one being performed.

Criminal prosecution for bigamy is relatively rare as you can judge from searching the archives of this form.

People in this forum do not hesitate to give advice even if they are not sure, in fact they do not care really what happens to you, they are only trolling for clients.

Bon courage

Vishwa