Polygamy in India

Legal status of polygamy
Recognized under civil law
Afghanistan Algeria Bahrain Bangladesh Brunei Burkina Faso Cameroon Chad CAR Comoros Congo Djibouti Egypt Ethiopia Gabon The Gambia India1 Indonesia Iran Iraq Jordan Kuwait Libya Malaysia Maldives Mali Mauritania Morocco Myanmar Niger Oman Pakistan Palestine Qatar Saudi Arabia Senegal Singapore1 Somalia South Africa Sri Lanka1 Sudan Syria Tanzania Togo Uganda UAE Western Sahara Yemen Zambia
Recognized in some regions
Eritrea2 Nigeria (BA, BO, GO, JI, KD, KA, KT, KE, NI, SO, YO, ZA)
Foreign marriages recognized
Australia (welfare only) United Kingdom (welfare only)
Recognized under customary law
Botswana Equatorial Guinea Lesotho Liberia Kenya Malawi Mozambique Namibia Nigeria Sierra Leone South Africa Swaziland Zimbabwe
Status in other jurisdictions
Angola Benin Bhutan Burundi Canada Côte d'Ivoire DR Congo Ethiopia Ghana Iraqi Kurdistan Kazakhstan Kyrgyzstan Laos Mayotte (FR) Mauritius Mongolia Niue Russia Rwanda Tajikistan Thailand Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan United States Uzbekistan Vietnam Nigeria (IM, KW, LA, NA, OY, PL)
See also
Polygamy Polygyny Polyandry Non-monogamy Polygamy by country Marriage practice by country
Notes
1Illegal in all forms; Muslims exempt 2Regions governed by Sharia *In certain countries and regions, only Muslims may legally contract a polygamous marriage

Polygamy is illegal in India for Hindus and other religious groups under the Hindu marriage Act. It remains legal for Muslims under the terms of The Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act of 1937, as interpreted by the All India Muslim Personal Law Board" According to the 1961 census (the last census to record such data), polygamy was actually less prevalent among Indian Muslims (5.7%) than among several other religious groups. Incidence was highest among Adivasis (15.25%) and Buddhists (7.9%); Hindus, by comparison, had an incidence of 5.8%. Although there are movements to end polygamy, many seek to preserve the practice.

Conversion to Islam for polygamy

There have been many incidents of non-Muslim men converting to Islam solely with the purpose of practicing polygamy legally. For example, actor Dharmendra has been reported to have converted to Islam so that he could legally marry actress Hema Malini as his second wife. In December 2008, a controversy arose when the then Deputy Chief Minister of Haryana, Chander Mohan, and Anuradha Bali, the former Assistant Advocate General of Haryana, converted to Islam adopting the names Chand Mohammad and Fiza, so that Mohan could marry Bali as his second wife. However he converted back to Hinduism after a while. Such incidents have raised concerns over the use of Islam for polygamy.

See also

• Polyandry in India