The Supreme Court yesterday sentenced a woman and her second husband to six months in jail each for committing bigamy, setting aside a Madras High Court which had let off the couple with a “flea-bite sentence”.
The woman had remarried while her divorce proceedings were still pending before a family court.
A Supreme Court bench led by CT Ravikumar and PV Sanjay Kumar – while observing that bigamy was a “serious offence which impacts the society” – said that it’s not advisable to let off the accused with a light sentence.
However, to ensure that the couple’s six-year-old child is taken care off, the Supreme Court ordered that the husband will serve his sentence first and after he completes his term, the woman is to surrender.
“This arrangement shall not be treated as a precedent as it was ordered in these special circumstances,” the top court said.
The Supreme Court was hearing a petition filed by the woman’s first husband challenging a Madras High Court order that had sentenced the couple for just a day till the “rising of the court”.
The top court said that a “flea-bite sentence” by the Madras High Court was inadequate for a serious offence.
“In the matter of awarding sentence for conviction of an offence which may impact the society, it is not advisable to let off an accused after conviction with a flea-bite sentence … in the absence of any exceptional circumstances, [Courts must] impose sentence in tune with the rule of proportionality in providing punishment though it falls within the realm of judicial discretion.” it observed.
