SC upholds Muslim cop's dismissal for two wives
NEW DELHI: After 23 years in court, a Muslim constable's plea that he did not fall afoul of a bigamy charge as this was permissible in his religion, has been decisively quashed by Supreme Court which dismissed his special leave petition against a high court ruling.
The SC decision not to entertain the petition clearly establishes that those in government jobs cannot get around service rules that stipulate dismissal from service for bigamous employees. The SC said that religion-based personal laws cannot be invoked to prevent government rules from being enforced.
The former Rajasthan police constable Liyakat Ali, challenged the termination of his services under the Rajasthan Civil Services (Conduct) Rules, 1971, banning second marriage without divorcing the first wife.
The Supreme Court last week upheld the HC ruling against Ali on the ground that he had contracted a second marriage without divorcing his first wife. Ali's contention was that Muslim personal law did not prohibit a second marriage even as the relation with first wife remained legally binding. The law did not mandate taking permission of the government and Ali married Maksuda Khatun without divorcing his first wife Farida Khatun.
Though the dismissed constable had taken a plea that he had divorced his first wife before contracting the marriage with Maksuda, the inquiry reportedly revealed that the first marriage had not been annulled when he married for the second time.
On January 25, an apex court Bench comprising Justices V S Sirpurkar and Aftab Alam dismissed Ali's appeal against the HC judgment prima facie accepting the stand of the Rajasthan government that the 1971 rules were applicable to all government servants, irrespective of the religion, to enforce strict discipline.
