Remember Chandra Mohan, the then Deputy Chief Minister of Haryana. He is the son of Bhajan Lal, a big gun in Congress political circles who had disowned his son because he had converted to Islam to marry another woman while his first wife was still alive. Chandra Mohan’s lady love was none other than a former legal luminary of Chandigarh, now named Fiza. The case of conversion to beat the bigamy law created a furore in both social and legal circles. Chandra Mohan, who had renamed himself Chand Mohammed soon had a change of heart and re-embraced the Hindu Dharma and reverted to his Hindu. He also moved back to live with his first wife.
Such attempts at exploiting loopholes to be free of accusations of bigamy are not new. Though few cases receive as much publicity as the Chand-Fiza episode, the practice of superficially converting to another religion in order to acquire new spouse has shaken up society as well as lawmakers several times.
The Law Commission itself took note of this case and many similar ones recently and tried to figure out possible causes and effects. Men who commit bigamy have found an easy way out through superficial conversion to Islam in order to subvert the due process of law.
Justice Lakshamanan, Chairman of the Law Commission, has recommended to the government of India that the Hindu Marriage Act be amended to discourage such phoney conversions. Under the amended act, the husband will not be permitted to solemnise a second marriage, irrespective of conversion to Islam, unless his first marriage is dissolved through due process of law. Everyone knows that divorce proceedings under Hindu Law take a lot of time which serves as a cooling period for the infatuated man and the woman as well. This ensures that such conversions are avoided and it takes care of social tensions. It is hoped that the amendment will be couched in language that will withstand the test of time as well as legal scrutiny in a court of law. Otherwise, this regression in the name of religion is bound to continue.
-Agencies