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CHAPTER XX OF OFFENCES RELATING TO MARRIAGE

Section 494: Marrying again during lifetime of husband or wife

The Indian Penal Code, 1860 (repealed)

Repealed by the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (45 of 2023) with effect from 1 July 2024.

Whoever, having a husband or wife living, marries in any case in which such marriage is void by reason of its taking place during the life of such husband or wife, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to seven years, and shall also be liable to fine.

Exception.—This section does not extend to any person whose marriage with such husband or wife has been declared void by a Court of competent jurisdiction,

nor to any person who contracts a marriage during the life of a former husband or wife, if such husband or wife, at the time of the subsequent marriage, shall have been continually absent from such person for the space of seven years, and shall not have been heard of by such person as being alive within that time provided the person contracting such subsequent marriage shall, before such marriage takes place, inform the person with whom such marriage is contracted of the real state of facts so far as the same are within his or her knowledge.

Now in the BNS

As given in the correspondence table of the National Crime Records Bureau (Ministry of Home Affairs). Read both texts before relying on it. NCRB table

494. Marrying again during lifetime of husband or wife.BNS 82(1)

Leading cases

Questions on this section

8 questions in 23 of our papers cite Section 494. Try these from the free papers:

  1. 1. In Sarla Mudgal v. Union of India (1995), a Hindu husband converted to Islam and married again without his first marriage being dissolved. The Supreme Court held that the second marriage:

  2. 2. Which of the following is an essential ingredient of the offence under Section 82(1) of the BNS (marrying again during the lifetime of husband or wife)?

  3. 3. In Sarla Mudgal v. Union of India (1995), the Supreme Court considered a Hindu husband who, while his first marriage subsisted, converted to Islam and married again. The Court held that

Practise questions on Criminal Law