The Kerala High Court has held that a Muslim man’s first wife must be heard by the statutory authorities concerned, before registering his second marriage under the Kerala Registration of Marriages (Common) Rules, 2008.

A Bench of Justice P. V. Kunhikrishnan observed that the law of the land would prevail if a second marriage has to be registered, even though Muslim personal law allowed a man to marry a second time in certain situations. Religion would thus become secondary to constitutional rights.

The court made the observations while considering a petition filed by a Muslim man and his second wife, who were aggrieved by the alleged non registration of their marriage by the registering authority concerned.

Dismissing their plea, the court said that the man’s first wife is not even a p

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