Chandigarh, Dec 5— The Punjab and Haryana High Court has sentenced a man to three months’ simple imprisonment for contracting a second marriage while his wife’s appeal against their divorce was still pending under an interim stay.
Justice Alka Sarin said the act amounted to “brazen breach of law” and “civil contempt,” noting that the remarriage effectively nullified the pending appeal and left the wife without remedy. The court also imposed a ₹2,000 fine under the Contempt of Courts Act.
“The clock cannot be put back and the damage which has ensued cannot be rectified,” Justice Sarin said, adding that the conduct deprived the wife and her daughter of any chance of reconciliation.
The wife had filed her appeal within limitation on March 12, 2020, and the High Court stayed the divorce decree on August 13, 2020. Despite the stay, the husband remarried on January 3, 2021.
He argued he was never served notice and learned of the appeal only on February 23, 2021. He also claimed a spouse cannot be barred from remarrying indefinitely. But the court rejected the defence, saying the husband “admittedly never made enquiries” within the limitation period about whether an appeal had been filed.
Justice Sarin said the unconditional apology offered by the husband came only after being confronted with the violation. “The apology cannot be accepted for the reason that there has been wilful contravention of Section 15 of the Hindu Marriage Act,” she said.
Citing binding precedents, the court held that solemnising a second marriage after a duly filed appeal, and during an active stay order, “amounts to civil contempt” as it strikes at the sanctity of judicial orders.
