In a first in Sindh, Christian man convicted for second marriage

A court has handed down a collective sentence of nine years to a Christian man for contracting a second marriage despite his first wife being alive.

Joshwa Ilyas was found guilty of marrying the second time in October last year. The judicial magistrate-XI (South) ruled that the prosecution successfully proved the charges against the accused and awarded him three-year imprisonment for offence punishable under Section 494 (marrying again during lifetime of husband or wife) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC).

Additionally, he was given three years in prison for committing forgery as defined under Section 468 of the PPC and three more years for crime punishable under Section 471 (using as genuine a forged document) of the PPC.

The magistrate imposed a collective fine of Rs30,000 on the convict, who was subsequently taken into custody and remanded to prison to serve out the sentences that shall concurrently. An FIR was lodged at the Mehmoodabad police station under sections 494, 468, and 471 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) on the complaint of Aster Younus Masih.

According to the content of the FIR, the woman’s marriage to Joshwa Ilyas took place on December 26, 2020. She stated that her husband engaged in an extramarital relationship with another woman, and when the woman became pregnant, they clandestinely married on October 12, 2022. They forged a marriage certificate, perpetrating fraud, she said, adding that she later learned of her husband’s second marriage and the forged certificate, in which he falsely declared himself as unmarried.

She said that in accordance with Christian beliefs, a man is prohibited from entering into a second marriage while his spouse is still alive. Talking to The News, Advocate Saleem Michael, the complainant’s lawyer, explained that the Christian marriage law accepted globally prohibits Christians from marrying the second time when the wife or husband from the first marriage is alive and the marriage is not void.

A marriage could be dissolved only in case of the wife found guilty of adultery under Section 10 of the Divorce Act 1869, he said, adding that the Lahore High Court, however, gave a judgment declaring that a couple may approach a court of law for dissolution of marriage on the ground of mutual consent, but in Christianity, no one can divorce his wife until she is found guilty of adultery.

The counsel said the accused committed the crime of bigamy. He mentioned that initially, the police showed reluctance to file an FIR and only after successfully persuading the court of the criminal nature of the act did it issue orders for the registration of the case. He said this was the first such case lodged in Sindh and the first such judgment given by any court to a Christian marrying the second time in the province.