“Since, he was already married, the subsequent marriage, if any, has no sanctity in law and is void ab-initio (illegal from the inception),” a bench of Justices Arijit Pasayat and P Sathasivam observed in a judgement.

The apex court rejected the argument of the convict Bhupinder Singh, an employee of the State Bank of Patiala, that since the victim Manjit Kaur had consented to sex despite knowing his marital status, the ingredients of Section 376 (rape) would not apply in his case.

In this case, a sessions court in Chandigarh had convicted and sentenced Bhupinder Singh to seven years RI and a fine of Rs 10,000 on Bhupinder Singh on charges of fathering Kaur’s child despite the fact that he was already married and having kids.

It was the case of the victim that she had married Singh after the latter made her believe that he was unmarried and fathered her child.

But later she came to know that he was already married and had kids through his first wife.

Singh on his part denied having married Kaur, but on the basis of the various documents, the sessions court sentenced him to seven years RI.

He appealed in the Punjab and Haryana High Court which upheld the conviction but reduced the sentence to three years on the premise that Kaur had consented to sex, knowing fully well that Singh was married.

The High Court had also ordered him to pay Rs one lakh compensation to the victim, failing which he would have to serve the original sentence imposed by the Sessions court.