VIGILANCE MANUAL VOLUME III - AP Online

916 DECISION - 508
Lily Thomas vs. Union of India,
2000(3) Supreme 601
If a Hindu even after conversion to Islam marries a second
time during the life time of his wife, such marriage apart from being
void under sections 11 and 17 of the Hindu Marriage Act, would also
constitute an offence and that person would be liable to be prosecuted
under sec. 494 Indian Penal Code. Even under the Muslim Law,
plurality of marriages is not unconditionally conferred upon the
husband. It would, therefore, be doing injustice to Islamic Law to
urge that the convert is entitled to practice bigamy notwithstanding
the continuance of his marriage under the law to which he belonged
before conversion.
(508)
Witnesses — plight of
Supreme Court expressed its deep concern over
the plight of witnesses in endless adjournments, a
game of unscrupulous lawyers, non-payment of diet
money, harassment by subordinate court staff,
prosecution of hostile witnesses etc.
Jagjit Singh vs. State of Punjab,
2000(4) Supreme 364
The Supreme Court made the following observations in a
case of appeals against conviction by the Punjab & Haryana High
Court, under secs.302, 302 read with 34 of the Indian Penal Code.
“A criminal case is built on the edifice of evidence, evidence
that is admissible in law. For that, witnesses are required whether it
is direct evidence or circumstantial evidence. Here are the witnesses
who are a harassed lot. A witness in a criminal trial may come from
a far-off place to find the case adjourned. He has to come to the
court many times and at what cost to his own self and his family is
not difficult to fathom. It has become more or less a fashion to have