Muslim man married twice can't compel first wife to live with him: Allahabad High Court

A Muslim man married the second time against the wishes of the first wife can't compel her to live with him, the Allahabad High Court has observed. A two-member bench comprising Justice Surya Prakash Kesarwani and Justice Rajendra Kumar made the observation while hearing a petition filed by a Muslim man demanding conjugal rights. 

They said if a Muslim man isn't capable of providing for four wives, he mustn't indulge in polygamy. 

"If a Muslim man is not capable of fostering his wife and children, then as per the mandate of the Holy Quran, he cannot marry another woman," the court observed.

The court also opined that a Muslim husband has the legal right to take a second wife even while the first marriage subsists. But if he exercises this right and attempts to take the assistance of a civil court to compel the first wife to live with him against her wishes, he can't. 

They said that the man married the second woman while suppressing this fact from his first wife amounts to cruelty. 

The court said the first wife can't be compelled to go with the man in a suit filed by him for restitution of conjugal rights, IANS reported.  

It said such an act would be a breach of fundamental rights.