Second marriage lawful but is cruel to first wife, says Karnataka High Court
Bengaluru: The Karnataka High Court has said that contracting a second marriage by a Muslim may be lawful, but it causes enormous cruelty to the first wife.
The Kalaburagi Division Bench, comprising Justices Krishna S Dixit and P Krishna Bhat recently dismissed an appeal to set aside a trial court judgement, which justified the dissolution of marriage in a case filed by Ramjanbi, first wife of the appellant Yusufpatel Patil.
"Though contracting a second marriage by a Muslim may be lawful, it more often than not, causes enormous cruelty to the first wife, justifying her claim for divorce," the bench observed.
Patil, from the district headquarter town of Vijayapura in north Karnataka, had married Ramjanbi in July 2014 in Bengaluru as per Sharia law.
Shortly after that, he contracted a second marriage.
Subsequently, Ramjanbi filed a suit in a lower court, seeking dissolution of marriage on the grounds of cruelty and desertion, alleging that she and her parents were manhandled by the appellant and his parents.
Patil then filed the petition in the High Court, saying that he loved his first wife, who is a respondent in the case.
Patil had stated before the court that he contracted the second marriage "only because of the irresistible pressure mounted by his parents, who are quite powerful and politically influential".
He further justified his second marriage, saying that the Sharia law permits a Mohammaden to contract plural wives "and such a conduct per se does not amount to cruelty, nor constitute a ground for opposing restitution of conjugal rights."
The bench dismissed the contention that Sharia law allows plural wives to restore the first marriage.
"If this, in the given circumstances is recognised as a justification, a husband may contract two more marriages as well, seeking shelter under Sharia," the Bench observed.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Two arrested in K'taka for assaulting minors, uploading CSAM content
Bengaluru (PTI): Two men were arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting two minor girls, recording the acts on mobile phones and uploading the videos online as child sexual abuse material, police said on Thursday.
The accused have been identified as Kiran Kumar (29), hailing from Chitradurga district, and Aditya M K (20), hailing from Shivamogga district, they said.
A probe was initiated after information was received from the NCRP portal regarding a suspected instance of creation of Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) for online dissemination, police said.
Accordingly, a case was registered at Kaggalipura Police Station under relevant sections of the IT Act on May 10, they added.
Investigation revealed that two minor girl victims were exploited and videos were created and uploaded to the internet. The child victims have subsequently recorded their statements as per procedure and further necessary legal steps have been taken, Pronab Mohanty Director General of Police, Cyber Command, said in a statement.
Based on the statements of the victims, the accused persons, who allegedly assaulted the minors, recorded the acts on mobile phones and uploaded the videos online, were arrested, he said.
Following the probe, sections 65(2) (rape) and 70 (gangrape) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, along with relevant sections of the POCSO Act, have been added to the FIR, police said.
Officials collected relevant information and on May 12, arrested the accused persons and seized three mobile phones belonging to them, in which the videos had allegedly been recorded, he said.
The accused were later produced before the court and taken into police custody for further investigation, he added.
According to him, in CSAM cases, police usually apprehend offenders who have downloaded such content or have kept them in their possession after obtaining them from elsewhere, usually the internet.
"The present case is one of the very few instances where content creators and uploaders have been apprehended," Mohanty added.
