Without obtaining any valid decree of divorce from his earlier spouse and during subsistence of his earlier marriage, may constitute an offence punishable under Sections 494/495 of IPC – Punjab and Haryana High Court

Case details:
Case No: CRWP-10805-2023
Bench: Hon’ble Kuldeep Tiwari, J.

In a petition filed by a married person living in a live-in relationship with another woman without dissolving the earlier marriage the Hon’ble High Court dismissed the petition.

The petitioners approached the Hon’ble Court to seek protection of their lives and liberty at the hands of private respondents and implication in a false criminal case.

The Court observed that the petitioner no.1 is an unmarried woman and the petitioner no. 2 is a married man with wife and a child. The petitioner no. 2 without dissolving his earlier marriage is living in a live-in relationship which may constitute an offence punishable under Sections 494/495 I.P.C.

The Court further observed that the petitioners raised only bald and vague allegations and have not provided any substantial supportive material on record to corroborate their allegations and not a single instance pertaining to the manner and mode of alleged threat being extended to the petitioners has been anywhere disclosed in the petition.

The Court further observed that “on the face of the above, it appears that in order to avoid any criminal prosecution in case of adultery, the present petition has been instituted. To the judicial mind of this Court, under the guise of invocation of the writ jurisdiction of this Court, the hidden intent of the petitioners is just to obliquely obtain the seal of this Court on their conduct.

The Court dismissed the instant petition.