Court frames bigamy charge against former professor

A Delhi court has ordered framing of charges of bigamy and subjecting his first wife to cruelty against a retired professor of Jawaharlal University here.

"The accused be charged for the offence under section 494 (bigamy) and 498A (subjecting a married woman to cruelty) of the IPC," Metropolitan magistrate Veena Rani, in a recent order, said.

The court also ordered framing of charges under section 120B (criminal conspiracy) against the accused and his three sisters. It, however, did not find sufficient prima facie evidence against the sisters of the accused to frame charges under other penal provisions of the IPC dealing with cruelty.

The estranged wife of the accused had lodged a criminal complaint with the Crime Against Women (CAW) cell of Delhi police on October 13, 2000, after she came to know about the second marriage of her husband, which allegedly took place in 1992. The complainant, whose marriage with the accused was solemnised in 1985, alleged her husband used to harass her.