The Hindu Marriage Act, particularly Section 5, Section 11, and Section 17, establishes the prohibition of bigamous marriage and provides for the prevention of such marriages through injunctions.

SHANKARAPPA VS. BASAMMA

( 1 ) THE question arising in this revision petition is whether a suit brought by a person claiming to be the wife of the defendant for an injunction restraining the defendant from contracting a second marriage is cognisable by a civil court.

( 2 ) THE material facts are these: In the court of the Munsiff of Gulbarga, the plaintiff claiming to be the wife of the defendant instituted a suit on May 6, 1961 and the prayer portion of the plaint reads as follows:

"hence it is prayed that the plaintiff's suit be decreed against the defendant with cost as follows: 1. That the defendant be perpetually restrained from marrying one Sitamma D/o Gundappa R/o of Pada Taluk Gulbarga or any other girl or woman; 2. Any other relief which the court deems fit be awarded. "

In para 1 of her plaint it was stated that the plaintiff was married to the defendant 12 years before the date of the institution of the suit and that she was the second wife of the defendant. In para 3 of the plaint she complained of ill-treatment on the part of the husband. In paras 4 and 5 it was stated that the defendant had been instigated to take a third wife and that since such marriage would amount to bigamy, the plaintiff had a right to ask for an injunction restraining the defendant from contracting that marriage. The prayer, as can be seen from the portion extracted from the plaint, was that the court should issue an injunction restraining the defendant from contracting any such marriage.

( 3 ) IN the written statement produced by the defendant, it was pleaded that about 7 years before the institution of the suit the plaintiff had been divorced and that such divorce was permissible by a custom in his community. He also pleaded that the only remedy available to the plaintiff was to seek a declaration under the provisions of The Hindu Marriage Act after the proposed marriage was solemnized, that the marriage between the defendant and the woman whom he proposed to marry was a void marriage, and that the suit brought by the plaintiff in the civil court was not maintainable. The court below tried the issue relating to jurisdiction as a preliminary issue and found no difficulty in coming to the conclusion that the objection to jurisdiction was groundless. The petitioner contests the correctness of this conclusion reached by that Court.

( 4 ) IT is true as contended by Mr. Kulkarni, the learned Advocate for the defendant, that the Hindu marriage Act is a complete and exhaustive Code on all the matters regulated by it. That law is a law to amend and codify the law relating to marriage among Hindus. Section 4 states the overriding effect of the Act and provides that all texts, rules or interpretation of Hindu law and all customs or usages as part of that law in force immediately before the commencement of the act shall cease to have effect with respect to any matter, for which provision is made in the Act. It further provides that every other law in force immediately before the commencement of the act shall cease to have effect in so far as it is inconsistent with any of the provisions contained in the Act. Section 29 however which is in the nature of an exception to the provisions of Section 4 declares that a marriage solemnized between Hindus before the commencement of the Act, which is otherwise valid, shall not be deemed to be invalid or ever to have been invalid by reason only of the fact that the parties thereto belong to the same gotra or pravara or belonged to different religions, castes or sub-divisions of the same caste. It again provides that nothing in the Act shall be deemed to affect any right recognised by custom or conferred by any special enactment to obtain the dissolution of a Hindu marriage, whether solemnized before or after the commencement of the Act. There are (other?) similar provisions in that section to which it would be unnecessary to make any reference in the course of this order. The next section to which reference shou

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