In a recent ruling, the Bombay High Court affirmed that a Muslim man is permitted to register more than one marriage, as allowed by Islamic personal laws, which sanction multiple marriages. This decision came during the hearing of a case involving a Muslim man seeking to register his third marriage. A division bench comprising Justices B P Colabawalla and Somasekhar Sundaresan delivered the judgment on October 15.
The case arose after the Thane Municipal Corporation’s deputy marriage registrar rejected the man’s application, which was submitted in February 2023. The man, who had married an Algerian woman, sought the issuance of a marriage certificate. However, the authorities refused to register the marriage on the grounds that the Maharashtra Regulation of Marriage Bureaus and Registration of Marriages Act only recognizes one marriage per person under its definition of marriage.
In its ruling, the court deemed the refusal “wholly misconceived.” The bench noted that there is nothing in the Act that prevents a Muslim man from registering more than one marriage. The court further explained that under Muslim personal laws, a man is permitted to have up to four wives at a time.
“Given that Muslim personal laws allow up to four marriages, we cannot accept the authorities’ interpretation that the Maharashtra Regulation of Marriage Bureaus and Registration of Marriages Act only permits the registration of a single marriage, even for a Muslim male,” the court stated.
The judges emphasized that accepting the authorities’ stance would imply that the Maharashtra Act overrides or displaces Muslim personal laws, which is not the case. The court directed the Thane Municipal Corporation to reconsider the man’s application and process it in accordance with the law.
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