In a landmark judgment, the Bombay High Court affirmed the rights of Muslim men to register multiple marriages in accordance with their personal laws. The ruling came after a Muslim man sought to register his third marriage with a woman from Algeria, challenging the Thane Municipal Corporation’s denial based on the Maharashtra Regulation of Marriage Bureaus and Registration of Marriage Act.
The case, presided over by Justices B P Colabawalla and Somasekhar Sundaresan, reached the court after the couple’s application to register their marriage was rejected last year. Authorities contended that the existing legislation only recognizes the registration of a single marriage per individual, effectively disregarding the provision for multiple unions permissible under Muslim personal law.
However, the court criticized the authorities’ stance as “wholly misconceived,” clarifying that the Maharashtra Act does not supersede or nullify the personal laws that allow Muslim men to have up to four wives simultaneously. “There is absolutely nothing in this Act to indicate that the personal laws of Muslims have been excluded,” the justices noted in their decision on October 15.
Highlighting a contradiction, the court also pointed out that the same authorities had previously registered the petitioner’s second marriage. The bench thus directed the Thane Municipal Corporation’s deputy marriage registration office to provide a personal hearing for the petitioners and to make a reasoned decision within ten days after they submit the required documents.
