1. Who is a Muslim? An odd question of apostasy was argued with Islamic erudition by counsel for the Kazi of Calicut who is the petitioner in this Criminal Revision Petition and the 4th accused in C. C. No. 22 of 1969. Religion is not amenable to reason and theological disputes cannot be decided by secular courts. So my duty is as embarrassing as my jurisdiction is limited. Even so, the laws of the land lay down norms of conduct and bind divine and commoner alike. The Indian Penal Code which prohibits bigamy cannot be evaded by pleading Islam unless founded on some exemption recognised by the law. The Kazi (4th accused) is accused of abetting the second marriage of a Muslim woman (1st accused) while her first marriage (with pw.1) was subsisting, whatever liberties the Muslim male may claim, the female is governed by monogamy which most civilized nations have accepted as good. But the Kazi, holding the Quran and the Holy Prophet as final, argues himself innocent by imputing apostasy to the complainant and consequent'instant' and automatic divorce of the 1st accused.

2. The facts are few and the law is covered by authority and yet the argument has been long and so is the j