Muslim employee sacked for bigamy

The Supreme Court has refused to entertain the plea of a Muslim employee who lost his job with the Rajasthan police 22 years ago on the ground that he remarried without divorcing his first wife.

The Supreme Court has refused to entertain the plea of a Muslim employee who lost his job with the Rajasthan police 22 years ago on the ground that he remarried without divorcing his first wife.

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A SC bench threw out Liaquat Ali’s petition, as it was not convinced that the petitioner should get back his job after two decades. Ali’s case did not proceed even though the bench, earlier headed by Justice Tarun Chatterjee, since retired, had issued notice on his petition in 2008.

Ali’s counsel, Mukesh Sharma, said: “The bench dismissed the plea on learning that my client has been without a job for 22 years.”

Ali had approached the apex court, challenging the Rajasthan High Court’s judgment upholding the state government’s decision to remove him from service.

There are two charges: One, the constable didn’t divorce his first wife; two, he didn’t take prior permission from the government before remarrying.

The Rajasthan Civil Services (Conduct) Rule, 1971 doesn’t permit a government employee to remarry if his first wife is alive. Remarriage is allowed only on two conditions — after divorcing the first wife, or with the government’s permission. Ali’s services were terminated after a disciplinary committee found he had flouted the rules.

Sharma said: “We also sought quashing of the disciplinary proceedings as my client was not given a hearing.” He refuted the charges of a police report that concluded that Ali was not divorced from his first wife — not even as per the Muslim law.

(Inputs from HTC Jaipur)