JUDGMENT

ALTAMAS KABIR, J. — 1. Leave granted.

2. The application for condonation of delay in filing the Special Leave Petition is allowed and the delay in filing the same is condoned.

3. This appeal raises an interesting question of law as to whether a marriage performed by a person professing the Muslim faith with his wife's sister, while his earlier marriage with the other sister was still subsisting, would be void in law or merely irregular or voidable even though the subsequent marriage may have been consummated.

4. The facts which give rise to the aforesaid question, in brief, are set out hereunder.

5. The respondent No.1 herein, Bismillah Begum, filed an application for her maintenance and for the maintenance of her minor daughter, Taheman Bano, under Section 125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, against one Chand Patel, in the Court of the Judicial Magistrate, First Class, Chincholi, being Criminal Misc. No.6 of 2001. In her petition she claimed that she was the legally wedded wife of the appellant herein and that her marriage with the appellant had taken place about eight years prior to the filing of the said petition. Her further case was that the marriage was consummate