The question posed in this criminal appeal is whether a Muslim wife can repudiate the marriage with her husband de hors the provisions of the Dissolution of Muslim Marriages Act (VIII of 1939), hereinafter referred to as the Act. My reply is in the negative. According to me, under no circumstances can a Muslim marriage be dissolved at the instance of the wife, except in accordance with the provisions of the Act.

2. Now the facts: The appellant filed a private complaint before the District Magistrate, Kozhikode, against six persons; the first accused his wife, the 2nd accused her second husband whom she married during the subsistance of her marriage with the appellant, accused 3 and 4 her parents, the 5th accused an abetter and the 6th accused her uncle. The marriage between the appellant and the first respondent took place in 1950 and a child was born of that marriage. After the birth of the child, the wife was taken away from the appellant by her parents and was not sent back. All his efforts to get back his wife failed and therefore the appellant filed O.S. No. 321 of 1959 before the Munsiff’s Court, Calicut, for restitution of conjugal rights. The first respondent, the