Customary 'Nata Marriage' During Subsistence Of First Marriage No Defence To Bigamy Under Hindu Marriage Act: Rajasthan High Court

The Rajasthan High Court has held that customary “Nata Marriage” cannot be accorded legal recognition as a valid defense to the charge of bigamy, since doing so shall render the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 (“the Act”), meaningless, absurd and virtually repealed owing to judicial tolerance of the custom. For context, Nata Marriage was a custom prevalent in certain communities of Rajasthan where a person enters into second matrimonial union without legally dissolving the first marriage.The division bench of Justice Arun Monga and Justice Sandeep Shah opined that this custom disproportionately harms women and results in vulnerability of both the sets of women. “The first wife, who has obtained no divorce and whose marriage remains legally subsisting, is left in a state of abandoned limbo, deserted in fact but still a wife in law, unable to remarry without exposing herself to social and sometimes legal consequences. The woman in the Nata relationship, meanwhile, enjoys no formal legal status, she has no recognized matrimonial rights, her children may face questions of legitimacy, and she has no enforceable claims to maintenance, inheritance, or matrimonial property under the formal legal framework.”The Court was hearing a challenge to a Family Court order that dismissed husband's application for divorce.It was the case of the petitioner-husband that the respondent-wife was posted in another place for her job, and had deserted him, post which they were living separately for 27 years. During this time, he entered into a Nata Marriage with another woman with the consent of the respondent-wife. The petitioner-husband said that continuance of the dead matrimonial relationship served no purpose and amounted to mental cruelty. After hearing the contentions, the Court observed that invocation of defence of Nata Marriage was a transparent attempt to hide a void and statutorily prohibited second marriage under the garb of custom. A custom which could not override the express mandate of a statutory enactment, it said.“A Court of law is not an instrument available to a wrongdoer to consecrate his wrong. The appellant, having made his choice in 1997 with open eyes and without legal authority, must bear its consequences, and those consequences cannot, in law or in conscience, be visited upon the respondent.”Furthermore, on the argument of the second marriage being performed after taking respondent's consent, the Court held that no consent of the existing spouse could validate such a marriage, since the prohibition under Section 11 read with Section 5(i) of the Act was a matter of public policy and not merely a private right capable of waiver. Accordingly, the Court upheld the decree of the Family Court, thereby affirming the rejection of divorce application. As parting views, Court observed that the conflict between the Nata Marriage and the Hindu Marriage Act was a concern for gender justice since the custom disproportionately harmed women. It held that legal recognition of such a custom as a valid defense would violate the constitutional guarantees under Articles 14 and 15, and also defeat the mandate under Article 39, requiring equal rights for men and women. The Court further rejected Section 29(2) of the Act as a defence for Nata Marriage, and opined that the Section was a savings clause which was narrowly applicable to customs relating to dissolution of marriage, and not to customs permitting remarriage. “The saving clause cannot, therefore, be stretched to cover a practice that flagrantly violates Section 5(i) by creating a second marriage over an existing, legally intact one. If Nata is accepted as a valid defense against bigamy, the logical consequence is devastating to the entire scheme of the Hindu Marriage Act. The Act's provisions would remain on the statute book as empty letters, stripped of all operative content and reduce the Rule of law to absurdity.”Accordingly, the petition was dismissed. Title: Laxmilal v ParwatiCitation: 2026 LiveLaw (Raj) 185Click Here To Read/Download Order

Customary 'Nata Marriage' During Subsistence Of First Marriage No Defence To Bigamy Under Hindu Marriage Act: Rajasthan High Court

Nupur Agrawal

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Nupur Agrawal

Customary 'Nata Marriage' During Subsistence Of First Marriage No Defence To Bigamy Under Hindu Marriage Act: Rajasthan High Court

Nupur Agrawal

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