Chandigarh: The Punjab and Haryana High Court has overturned the dismissal of an Indian Air Force officer who was removed from service for marrying twice without permission from his superiors.
Justices Sureshwar Thakur and Sudeepti Sharma ruled that the dismissal violated legal requirements and showed arbitrariness and poor judgment.
The officer, a Muslim from West Bengal, joined the Indian Air Force in December 2005. He married his first wife in July 2009 and had a daughter. In December 2012, he married a second woman without getting the necessary approval from the Air Force.
Following an investigation, the Western Air Command dismissed him for practicing “plural marriage.” After his appeal to the Armed Forces Tribunal was rejected, he brought the case to the high court.
The court acknowledged that while Islamic personal law allows plural marriages, defense personnel must still seek permission.
The judges noted that the first wife appeared to have consented to the second marriage and that this should have been considered by the Air Force.
The court ruled that removing the officer from service threatened his and his family’s right to life under Article 21 of the Constitution, which protects the right to livelihood.
