CHINNAPPA REDDY, J.:- A Hindu wife aggrieved by her husband's conduct in marrying a second wife laid a complaint against him for an offence under Section 494, I.P.C., read with Sections 11 and 17 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955. In this application under Section 561-A, Criminal P.C. the husband seeks to have the proceedings against him quashed on the ground that Sections 11 and 17 of the Hindu Marriage Act are ultra vires and unconstitutional as they offend Article 15(1) of the Constitution. We may at once state that though the Act has been on the statute book for fifteen years no one thought worth while all these years to challenge the vires of these provisions either in this court or elsewhere. It has now fallen to this petitioner to question the vires of these provisions.

2. Sri P.A. Chowdary, learned counsel for the petitioner, argued that while the personal law of the Hindus prior to 1955 and the personal law of the Muslims always permitted polygamy the Hindu Marriage Act made the Hindu marriage monogamous while the Muslim marriage was left untouched. The effect of making the Hindu marriage monogamous was that it exposed Hindus to Section 494, I.P.C. while Muslims cont