Polygamy means being married to more than one person at the same time. In India the answer to “is polygamy legal?” depends on the law that governs the marriage. For Hindus, Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs, for Christians and Parsis, and for anyone married in a court marriage under the Special Marriage Act, a second marriage while the first husband or wife is alive is void, and the person who marries again commits the offence of bigamy, now in Section 82 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023. A Muslim man married under Muslim personal law is the one exception: that law allows him more than one wife. None of these laws allows a woman to have two husbands at once. This guide explains the terms, what the history textbooks say about polygamy in early India, the law for each community, the punishment for bigamy and who can complain, the Supreme Court’s rulings on converting to marry again, and the reforms under way.
Polygamy in India at a glance
- Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, Sikhs: a marriage is valid only if “neither party has a spouse living at the time of the marriage” (Section 5(i), Hindu Marriage Act, 1955); a second marriage is void (Section 11) and punishable as bigamy (Section 17).
- Court marriage (any religion): the same rule under Sections 4(a), 24, 43 and 44 of the Special Marriage Act, 1954.
- Parsis and Christians: a second marriage during the spouse’s lifetime is void (Section 4, Parsi Marriage and Divorce Act, 1936; Section 19, Divorce Act, 1869).
- Muslims: Muslim personal law, applied through the Shariat Act, 1937, allows a Muslim man more than one wife (the Law Commission has described it as permitting up to four); a married Muslim woman’s second marriage is void.
- Punishment: up to seven years and fine, or up to ten years and fine if the earlier marriage was concealed (Section 82, Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, formerly Sections 494 and 495 IPC); non-cognizable and bailable; the court acts only on a complaint by the aggrieved spouse or specified relatives (Section 219, BNSS).
- Converting to remarry: a Hindu husband who converts to Islam to marry again does not end his first marriage; the second marriage is void and bigamy applies (Sarla Mudgal, 1995; Lily Thomas, 2000).
- Uttarakhand: under the Uniform Civil Code, in force from 27 January 2025, registration of a marriage is refused where either party has a living spouse; the Code does not apply to Scheduled Tribes.
Reviewed and updated by Century Law Firm, Delhi – October 2026. Statutory references are to the Acts as in force on that date.
Polygamy, polygyny, polyandry and bigamy: what the words mean
Polygamy is the general word for a marriage with more than one spouse at a time. It has two forms. The NCERT Class 12 history textbook defines them simply: “Polygyny is the practice of a man having several wives.” “Polyandry is the practice of a woman having several husbands.” So the “custom of having many wives”, a phrase many readers search for, is called polygyny, and a woman with several husbands practises polyandry. In Hindi polygamy is बहुविवाह (bahu vivah), polygyny is बहुपत्नी प्रथा and polyandry is बहुपति प्रथा.
Bigamy is the legal term the criminal law uses. It describes the act of marrying again while one’s husband or wife is alive, in a case where the second marriage is void because of the first. Every bigamous marriage is a polygamous one, but the criminal offence depends on whether the law governing the person treats the second marriage as void.
Polygamy in early India: what the history textbook says
Students meet the subject in the Class 12 chapter “Kinship, Caste and Class: Early Societies (c. 600 BCE–600 CE)”, which is also where the search “rules of marriage class 12 history” leads. The textbook records that “Some of the Satavahana rulers were polygynous (that is, had more than one wife).” On polyandry it refers to “Draupadi’s marriage with the Pandavas, an instance of polyandry that is central to the narrative” of the Mahabharata, and sets out historians’ explanations: “that polyandry may have been prevalent amongst ruling elites”, that “it was (and is) prevalent in the Himalayan region”, and that “there may have been a shortage of women during times of warfare, and this led to polyandry.”
The same chapter adds two cautions worth repeating. “Some early sources suggest that polyandry was not the only or even the most prevalent form of marriage.” And “creative literature often has its own narrative requirements and does not always literally reflect social realities.” Stories of kings with many queens tell us about royal households and the literature written about them; they are not evidence of how ordinary families lived, and they say nothing about what the law allows today.
The law for each community
| Who / which law | Can a man take a second wife? | Can a woman take a second husband? | Effect of a second marriage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, Sikhs (Hindu Marriage Act, 1955) | No (Section 5(i)) | No (Section 5(i)) | Void (Section 11); bigamy (Section 17) |
| Court marriage, any religion (Special Marriage Act, 1954) | No (Section 4(a)) | No (Section 4(a)) | Void (Sections 24, 43, 44); bigamy |
| Parsis (Parsi Marriage and Divorce Act, 1936) | No (Section 4) | No (Section 4) | Void (Section 4(2)); bigamy (Section 5) |
| Christians (Divorce Act, 1869) | No | No | Ground for a decree of nullity (Section 19); bigamy |
| Muslims (Muslim personal law, Shariat Act, 1937) | Yes, more than one wife (described by the Law Commission as up to four) | No; a married woman’s second marriage is void | Wife may seek dissolution if not treated equitably (Section 2(viii)(f), Dissolution of Muslim Marriages Act, 1939) |
| Uttarakhand residents under the Uniform Civil Code, 2024 (not Scheduled Tribes) | No | No | Registration refused if either party has a living spouse (UCC Rules, 2025) |
Hindus, Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs
The Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 applies to any person who is a Hindu by religion “in any of its forms or developments”, to Buddhists, Jainas and Sikhs, and to anyone who is not a Muslim, Christian, Parsi or Jew by religion. Section 5 says a marriage may be solemnized between any two Hindus if, among other conditions, “neither party has a spouse living at the time of the marriage”. Section 11 declares a marriage “null and void” if it contravenes clause (i), (iv) or (v) of Section 5. Section 17, headed “Punishment of bigamy”, says that a marriage between two Hindus solemnized after the Act “is void if at the date of such marriage either party had a husband or wife living”, and applies the criminal provisions on bigamy, which were Sections 494 and 495 of the Indian Penal Code and are now Section 82 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. The rule is the same for both spouses, so the Act rules out polyandry as firmly as polygyny.
One gap in this scheme is deliberate. Section 2(2) of the Act says that nothing in it applies to the members of any Scheduled Tribe “unless the Central Government, by notification in the Official Gazette, otherwise directs”. Marriages among Scheduled Tribes are therefore governed by their customs, and whether a particular custom is valid is a matter of proof in each case.
Court marriage under the Special Marriage Act
The Special Marriage Act, 1954 lets any two persons marry regardless of religion. Section 4(a) makes it a condition that “neither party has a spouse living”. A marriage that breaks this condition “shall be null and void” (Section 24). Under Section 43, a person who is already married and procures a marriage under the Act “shall be deemed to have committed an offence under section 494 or section 495 of the Indian Penal Code” and the marriage is void. Under Section 44, a person whose marriage was solemnized under the Act and who, during the lifetime of the spouse, “contracts any other marriage” is liable to the bigamy penalties, and that marriage is void. This matters for Muslims too: a Muslim man who married under the Special Marriage Act cannot take a second wife, because his marriage is governed by this Act and not by Muslim personal law.
Parsis and Christians
Section 4 of the Parsi Marriage and Divorce Act, 1936 says that no Parsi, “whether such Parsi has changed his or her religion or domicile or not”, shall contract any marriage “under this Act or any other law in the lifetime of his or her wife or husband”, except after a lawful divorce or after the earlier marriage has been declared null and void or dissolved; such a marriage “shall be void”. Section 5 makes every Parsi who does so subject to the bigamy penalties.
For Christians, the Divorce Act, 1869 lists among the grounds for a decree declaring a marriage null “that the former husband or wife of either party was living at the time of the marriage, and the marriage with such former husband or wife was then in force”. A Christian’s second marriage during the lifetime of the first spouse is therefore void, and the bigamy offence applies. Christianity in India, in short, is monogamous under the law.
Muslims
Section 2 of the Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act, 1937 provides that, in matters including “marriage, dissolution of marriage, including talaq”, “the rule of decision in cases where the parties are Muslims shall be the Muslim Personal Law (Shariat)”. Muslim personal law allows a man more than one wife; the Law Commission of India, in its Report No. 227 (2009), described it as permitting “four marriages during the subsistence of one another”. Indian statute law itself assumes this: the Dissolution of Muslim Marriages Act, 1939 allows a wife to obtain a decree dissolving her marriage if the husband, “if he has more wives than one, does not treat her equitably in accordance with the injunctions of the Quran”.
The right is not unconditional. In Lily Thomas v. Union of India (2000) the Supreme Court said: “Even under the Muslim law plurality of marriages is not unconditionally conferred upon the husband.” And it does not extend to women: the Law Commission’s report notes that “Muslim law treats a second bigamous marriage by a married woman as void”. Because a Muslim man’s second marriage under Muslim personal law is not void, the bigamy offence in Section 82 BNS, which applies only where the later marriage is void because of the earlier one, does not reach it.
Converting to Islam to marry again: Sarla Mudgal and Lily Thomas
Some men married under Hindu law have tried to convert to Islam in order to take a second wife. The Supreme Court closed that route in Sarla Mudgal v. Union of India (1995). As quoted by the Law Commission in its Report No. 227, the Court held: “Conversion to Islam and marrying again would not, by itself, dissolve the Hindu marriage under the Act.” “The second marriage by a convert would therefore be in violation of the Act and as such void in terms of Section 494 IPC.” The ruling was reaffirmed in Lily Thomas v. Union of India (2000), where the Court added: “It would, therefore, be doing injustice to Islamic law to urge that the convert is entitled to practice bigamy”. The Law Commission’s report, titled “Preventing Bigamy via Conversion to Islam – A Proposal for giving Statutory Effect to Supreme Court Rulings”, recommended that these rulings be written into the statute.
Punishment for bigamy: Section 82 BNS (formerly Sections 494 and 495 IPC)
Since 1 July 2024 the offence is in Section 82 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023. Section 82(1): “Whoever, having a husband or wife living, marries in any case in which such marriage is void by reason of its taking place during the life of such husband or wife, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to seven years, and shall also be liable to fine.” Section 82(2) raises the maximum to ten years and fine where the person concealed the former marriage from the person with whom the later marriage is contracted.
The section has an exception. It does not apply to a person whose earlier marriage “has been declared void by a Court of competent jurisdiction”, nor to a person who marries again after the earlier spouse has been “continually absent from such person for the space of seven years” and not heard of as alive within that time, provided the person, before marrying again, tells the new partner “the real state of facts so far as the same are within his or her knowledge”.
The offence under Section 82(1) is non-cognizable and bailable and is triable by a Magistrate of the first class; so is the aggravated offence under Section 82(2). The police cannot investigate it without a Magistrate’s order, and a court can take cognizance of it only on a complaint by the person aggrieved, as explained below. Section 82(1) is compoundable by “The husband or wife of the person so marrying” with the permission of the court.
A second ceremony matters. In Bhaurao Shankar Lokhande v. State of Maharashtra (1965) the Supreme Court held that “solemnize” means “to celebrate the marriage with proper ceremonies and in due form”, and that unless the second marriage was “celebrated or performed with proper ceremonies and due form” it cannot be said to have been solemnized. In practice, the complainant therefore has to prove that the ceremonies required for a valid marriage under the relevant law were actually performed.
Who can file a bigamy case (Section 219 BNSS)
Under Section 219(1) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (formerly Section 198 CrPC), “No Court shall take cognizance of an offence punishable under sections 81 to 84 (both inclusive) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 except upon a complaint made by some person aggrieved by the offence”. Where the aggrieved person is the wife, the proviso allows a complaint on her behalf “by her father, mother, brother, sister, son or daughter or by her father’s or mother’s brother or sister, or, with the leave of the Court, by any other person related to her by blood, marriage or adoption.” Other provisos allow a complaint on behalf of a child, a person of unsound mind or a person unable to complain through sickness or infirmity, and on behalf of a husband serving in the armed forces who cannot get leave.
What happens to a second wife and children
Where the second marriage is void, the second wife has no status as a wife under the Act that governs the marriage, and either party may seek a decree declaring the marriage null. The children are protected. Section 16 of the Hindu Marriage Act says that, notwithstanding that a marriage is null and void under Section 11, any child of the marriage who would have been legitimate if the marriage had been valid “shall be legitimate”, whether or not a decree of nullity is granted. Section 16(3) limits the effect: such a child does not get “rights in or to the property of any person, other than the parents”.
Apart from the criminal complaint, the first wife’s civil remedies depend on her own marriage law. Under Muslim law, as noted above, the Dissolution of Muslim Marriages Act gives a wife a ground for dissolution where a husband with more than one wife does not treat her equitably. Our guides to maintenance and to the Domestic Violence Act cover the related remedies.
Reform: the Uniform Civil Code and pending questions
In Uttarakhand, the Uniform Civil Code, Uttarakhand, 2024 was passed by the State Legislative Assembly on 7 February 2024, notified on 12 March 2024 and brought into force from 27 January 2025. The Uniform Civil Code Rules, 2025 refer to “conditions for marriage as stipulated in section 4 of the Code” and allow the Sub-Registrar to reject the registration of a marriage where “Either party has a spouse living at the time of the marriage”. Under section 2 of the Code it does not apply to members of the Scheduled Tribes or to persons whose customary rights are protected under Part XXI of the Constitution. The Code has since been amended (by ordinances in 2025 and 2026 and an amending Act of 2026), so readers in Uttarakhand should check the current text on the State’s UCC portal.
At the national level, the Supreme Court’s 2017 judgment in Shayara Bano, which set aside triple talaq, recorded that other questions, “such as, polygamy and ‘halala'”, “would be dealt with separately”. Readers following the wider debate can see our analysis of the Uniform Civil Code.
भारत में बहुविवाह प्रणाली – हिंदी में लेख
बहुविवाह (polygamy) का अर्थ है एक ही समय में एक से अधिक जीवनसाथी होना। इसके दो रूप हैं – बहुपत्नी प्रथा (polygyny), यानी एक पुरुष की कई पत्नियाँ, और बहुपति प्रथा (polyandry), यानी एक स्त्री के कई पति। एनसीईआरटी की कक्षा 12 की इतिहास की पुस्तक बताती है कि कुछ सातवाहन शासकों की एक से अधिक पत्नियाँ थीं, और महाभारत में द्रौपदी का पांडवों से विवाह बहुपति प्रथा का उदाहरण है। इतिहासकारों के अनुसार बहुपति प्रथा शासक वर्गों में रही होगी, हिमालयी क्षेत्र में रही है, और युद्ध के समय स्त्रियों की कमी भी इसका कारण हो सकती है; पर पुस्तक यह भी कहती है कि साहित्य हमेशा समाज की वास्तविकता का शाब्दिक चित्र नहीं होता।
आज भारत में कानून की स्थिति स्पष्ट है। हिंदू, बौद्ध, जैन और सिखों पर लागू हिंदू विवाह अधिनियम, 1955 की धारा 5(i) के अनुसार विवाह तभी वैध है जब विवाह के समय किसी भी पक्ष का जीवनसाथी जीवित न हो; दूसरा विवाह शून्य (void) है (धारा 11) और द्विविवाह (bigamy) का अपराध है (धारा 17)। यही नियम विशेष विवाह अधिनियम, 1954 के तहत कोर्ट मैरिज, पारसी विवाह और ईसाई विवाह पर लागू है। मुस्लिम पर्सनल लॉ के तहत मुस्लिम पुरुष एक से अधिक पत्नी रख सकता है – विधि आयोग ने इसे चार विवाह तक की अनुमति बताया है – पर मुस्लिम विवाहित स्त्री का दूसरा विवाह शून्य है। इनमें से किसी भी कानून में स्त्री को एक साथ दो पति रखने की अनुमति नहीं है।
द्विविवाह का अपराध अब भारतीय न्याय संहिता, 2023 की धारा 82 में है (पहले आईपीसी की धारा 494 और 495): सात वर्ष तक का कारावास और जुर्माना, और पहले विवाह को छिपाने पर दस वर्ष तक। यह अपराध असंज्ञेय और जमानती है, और अदालत केवल पीड़ित पति या पत्नी (या पत्नी की ओर से उसके माता-पिता, भाई-बहन, संतान आदि) की शिकायत पर ही संज्ञान लेती है (भारतीय नागरिक सुरक्षा संहिता की धारा 219)। सुप्रीम कोर्ट ने सरला मुद्गल (1995) और लिली थॉमस (2000) में कहा कि केवल इस्लाम अपनाकर दूसरा विवाह करने से पहला हिंदू विवाह समाप्त नहीं होता और दूसरा विवाह शून्य है। उत्तराखंड में समान नागरिक संहिता 27 जनवरी 2025 से लागू है, जिसके तहत जीवित जीवनसाथी होने पर विवाह का पंजीकरण अस्वीकार किया जा सकता है। निष्कर्ष यह है कि भारत में बहुविवाह, मुस्लिम पर्सनल लॉ के अपवाद को छोड़कर, कानूनन वर्जित और दंडनीय है।
Frequently asked questions
Only for Muslim men married under Muslim personal law. For Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, Sikhs, Christians, Parsis and anyone married under the Special Marriage Act, a second marriage during the lifetime of the first spouse is void and is punishable as bigamy under Section 82 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023.
No. Section 5(i) of the Hindu Marriage Act requires that neither party has a spouse living at the time of the marriage. A second marriage is void under Section 11, and Section 17 makes it punishable as bigamy, now under Section 82 BNS: up to seven years and fine, or up to ten years if the first marriage was concealed.
One, under every marriage law except Muslim personal law. A Muslim man married under Muslim law may have more than one wife; the Law Commission of India has described Muslim law as permitting up to four marriages at a time.
No. The Hindu Marriage Act, the Special Marriage Act, the Parsi Marriage and Divorce Act and the Divorce Act all require that neither party has a living spouse, and the Law Commission has noted that Muslim law treats a married woman’s second marriage as void. Marriages among Scheduled Tribes are outside the Hindu Marriage Act and governed by custom.
Polygyny. The NCERT Class 12 history textbook defines it as “the practice of a man having several wives”, and polyandry as “the practice of a woman having several husbands”. Polygamy covers both.
Under Section 82(1) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (formerly Section 494 IPC), imprisonment up to seven years and fine; under Section 82(2) (formerly Section 495 IPC), up to ten years and fine if the earlier marriage was concealed from the new spouse. The offence is non-cognizable and bailable.
The person aggrieved, usually the first husband or wife. Under Section 219 of the BNSS (formerly Section 198 CrPC), the court takes cognizance only on such a complaint; a wife’s father, mother, brother, sister, son or daughter, or her father’s or mother’s brother or sister, may complain on her behalf, and other relatives with the court’s leave.
The bigamy offence does not apply where the earlier spouse has been continually absent for seven years and not heard of as alive within that time, provided the person tells the new partner the real facts before marrying. Whether the second marriage is valid in civil law is a separate question; the safer course is to obtain a decree of divorce first (for Hindus, not having been heard of as alive for seven years is a ground for divorce under Section 13(1) of the Hindu Marriage Act).
Not lawfully, while his Hindu marriage subsists. The Supreme Court held in Sarla Mudgal (1995) that conversion to Islam and marrying again does not by itself dissolve the Hindu marriage, and that the second marriage is void and amounts to bigamy. Lily Thomas (2000) reaffirmed this.
No. Under the Divorce Act, 1869, a marriage is liable to be declared null where a former husband or wife of either party was living at the time of the marriage and that marriage was then in force, and a Christian who marries again during the spouse’s lifetime commits bigamy.
No. A marriage solemnized under the Special Marriage Act is governed by that Act, not by Muslim personal law. Section 44 makes a person married under it who contracts another marriage during the spouse’s lifetime liable to the bigamy penalties, and the later marriage is void.
Under Section 16 of the Hindu Marriage Act, yes: a child of a marriage void under Section 11, who would have been legitimate if the marriage had been valid, is legitimate whether or not a decree of nullity is granted. But such a child has rights only in the property of the parents, not of other relatives.
Yes. The Supreme Court held in Bhaurao Shankar Lokhande (1965) that “solemnize” means to celebrate the marriage “with proper ceremonies and in due form”, and that a second marriage not so celebrated cannot be said to have been solemnized, which Section 17 of the Hindu Marriage Act requires.
The Code, in force from 27 January 2025, lays down conditions for marriage in its section 4, and the Uniform Civil Code Rules, 2025 allow the Sub-Registrar to reject registration where either party has a spouse living at the time of the marriage. The Code does not apply to Scheduled Tribes.
Conclusion
Indian law is monogamous for almost everyone. A second marriage during the lifetime of a husband or wife is void for Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, Sikhs, Christians, Parsis and those married under the Special Marriage Act, and it exposes the person who marries again to prosecution for bigamy on the complaint of the aggrieved spouse. Muslim personal law is the exception for men, subject to the wife’s right to dissolution if she is not treated equitably, and the Supreme Court has made sure that conversion cannot be used to escape a Hindu marriage. Polyandry is recognised by none of these laws. Where the law is changing, as in Uttarakhand, it is moving towards one rule for all.
Sources used for this post: the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, Sections 2, 5, 11, 16 and 17 (Punjab and Haryana High Court copy); the Special Marriage Act, 1954, Sections 4, 24, 43 and 44 (India Code, as on 15 April 2026); the Parsi Marriage and Divorce Act, 1936, Sections 4 and 5; the Divorce Act, 1869, Section 19 (Goa Government copy); the Dissolution of Muslim Marriages Act, 1939, Section 2; the Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act, 1937, Section 2; the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, Section 82 and the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, Section 219 (the firm’s section-by-section data checked against the Gazette text); Law Commission of India, Report No. 227 (2009); the Supreme Court of India’s own copies of Bhaurao Shankar Lokhande v. State of Maharashtra (1965) and Shayara Bano v. Union of India (22 August 2017); the Uttarakhand Government’s UCC portal and the Uniform Civil Code Rules, 2025; and NCERT, Themes in Indian History, Class 12, chapter “Kinship, Caste and Class”.
