Sunday, June 12, 2011

A Nation of Hypocrites - Man arrested for Bigamy

One of those things that I read in yesterday's paper was about a BSNL employee who was arrested for bigamy and thrown in jail. The same paper also carried a news item about the launch of the biography of Gemini Ganesan, a man who married three times as we know it. Of course Gemini Ganesan was never arrested probably because his first wife never complained.

How many such cases do we know of public figures and people in power who were married and still had their first wives and second wives and third wives in full public glare and nothing ever happened to them? In all these circumstances the cops were probably waiting for a complaint from the first wife. Why would she if she depended on her husband for her day-to-day needs? I know that even the better educated women and women who have careers put up with this for all sorts of reasons like - children, luxury, why-rock-the-boat, where-will-I-go, he-will-provide-for-me-as-well etc. In most cases the elite classes get away with it while the law applies itself studiously to the lower classes.

Is the crime the act of marrying twice? Or is the crime about offending the first wife enough so she complains? Or is it something else? Frankly I have nothing against people who want to marry again and again - they can marry as many times as they please if they have the patience and energy to handle it - I feel that is punishment itself. But what is the position of the law in such cases? Does it wait for the complaint? Or is there a technicality where the marriage must be performed? Or the first wife offended enough to file a case against the father of her children? I am sure there is, else how do we explain all that goes on around us.

So we go about watching this world go on like the people in the 'Emperor's clothes' waiting for the little boy to shout out that the Emperor is wearing nothing at all!

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