New Delhi, Aug. 1 -- The Supreme Court on Friday sought the Centre's response on a fresh petition seeking a law to prohibit polygamy among Muslims, declare such marriages void from the outset and make the practice punishable under the BNS, while directing that the matter be tagged with a batch of long-pending petitions awaiting consideration by a constitution bench. A bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana issued notice to the Centre on the plea by women's rights activists Zakia Soman and Noorjehan Safia Niaz, journalist and civil rights activist Javed Anand, and two others. The bench ordered that the matter be tagged with the pending batch of cases challenging the constitutional validity of polygamy and nikah halala under Muslim personal law. Those were last heard in August 2022. The petitioners also sought compulsory registration of all Muslim marriages and divorces, citing instances of secret second marriages documented in a 2025 study by the Bharatiya Mahila Andolan. utkarsh anand...