 bill no xxii of 2009 the marriage laws (amendment) bill, 2009 a billfurther to amend the special marriage act, 1954, the hindu marriage act, 1955 and the code of criminal procedure, 1973be it enacted by parliament in the sixtieth year of the republic of india as follows:— chapter i preliminary51 (1) this act may be called the marriage laws (amendment) act,  2009(2) it shall come into force at onceshort title and commencement chapter ii amendment to the special marriage act, 195443 of 1954102 in the special marriage act, 1954, after section 44, the following  section shall be inserted, namely:—insertion of new section 44a"44a if an existing marriage, by whatever law it is governed, becomes interreligious due to change of religion by either party, it shall be governed by the provisions of this  act, including its anti-bigamy provisions"existing marriage becoming inter-religious due to change of religion chapter  iii amendment to the hindu marriage act, 195525 of 19553 in the hindu marriage act, 1955, after section 17, the following section shall be inserted, namely:—insertion of new section17a5punishment for marrying again after changing religion45 of 1860"17 a a married person, whose marriage is governed by this act, cannot marry again even after changing religion unless the first marriage is dissolved or declared null and void in accordance with law, and if such a marriage is contracted, it shall be deemed to be null and void and the provisions of sections 494 and 495 of the indian penal code, 1860  shall apply, accordingly" chapter  iv 10 amendment to the code of criminal procedure, 19734 in the code of criminal procedure, 1973, in the first schedule, —2 of 1974amendment of the first schedule(a) in the entry against section 494:—15(i) in column 4, for the word "non-cognizable" the word "cognizable"shall be substituted(ii) in column 5, for the word "bailable", the word "non-bailable" shall be substituted (b) in the entry against section 495:—(i) in column 4,  for the word "non-cognizable" the word "cognizable"shall be substituted20(ii) in column 5, for the word "bailable", the word "non-bailable" shall be substituted statement of objects  and reasonsin our country, marriage laws, except the muslim law which are in force, prohibit bigamy and treat bigamous marriage as void for quite some time, the married men whose personal laws do not allow bigamy have been resorting to immoral and unethical practice of converting to islam for solemnising the second marriage these men believe that conversion to islam enable them to marry without dissolving the first marriage of late, the marriage of a prominent person after conversion has hit the headlines of the newspapers and electronic media besides this, there are many cases of bigamy which go unnoticed since the antibigamy provisions of the indian penal code are non-cognizable, most of the cases of bigamy remain unpunished as the first wife remains silent and suffers in the absence of any complaint, the courts cannot do anything even the muslim personal law does not permit bigamy in its plain form the quran only offers conditional permission for a man to have four wives it lays down that a person can keep second wife, if he can treat both of them equally and give them equal justice in most of the cases, the conversion is sham and thus the second marriage is a fraud on the islamic law and has no recognition under it several high courts while deciding the issue,  have held that contracting second marriage after conversion is void and therefore, attracts the punishment under sections 494 and 495 of the indian penal code finally, the supreme court of india outlawed this practice in sarla mudgil versus union of india (air 1995-sc-1531) the ruling of the supreme court of india that "second marriage after conversion is void was reaffirmed in the year 2000 in the case of lilly thomas versus union of india(2000) 6-sc-224the law commission in its 227th report has also recommended for amendment of the marriage laws particularly, in view of the supreme court's judgments therefore, there is a need to give statutory backing to the legal position settled by the supreme court by amending the marriage laws further, it is also proposed that offences under sections 494 and 495 of the indian penal code should also be made cognizable and non-bailable to put a check on bigamyhence this billmahendra mohan extracts from the code of criminal procedure, 1973        sectionoffencepunishmentcognizablebailableby whator nonor non-courtcognizablebailabletriable123456494marrying againimprisonmentnon-bailablemagistrateduring thefor 7 years,cognizableof the firstlifetime of aand fineclasshusband or wife495same offenceimprisonmentnon-bailablemagistratewith concealmentfor 10 years,cognizableof the firstof the formerand fineclassmarriage from the person with whom subsequent marriage is contracted        ———— a billfurther to amend the special marriage act, 1954, the hindu marriage act, 1955 and the code of  criminal procedure, 1973————(shri mahendra mohan, mp)gmgipmrnd—5141rs(s-5)—4122009