Patna, Oct. 27 -- The Patna High Court has quashed criminal proceedings against the parents and first wife of a man accused of concealing his existing marriage to marry another woman, holding that the charges could not be sustained against them without a legally established basis for their involvement.
Justice Soni Shrivastava observed that offences under Sections 494, 495 and 496 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), relating to bigamy and fraudulent marriage, could not automatically be extended to relatives in the absence of specific allegations and a legal basis for their liability.
The case arose from a complaint filed by a woman from Saharsa, who alleged that Amit Kumar Rai, whom she met through a matrimonial portal, had represented himsel...