The second wife is not entitled to the deceased husband's multiple pension according to Indian law

The Bombay High Court said on Wednesday that a second wife is not entitled to the pension of her deceased husband in cases where the second marriage took place without the legal annulment of the first.

The court rejected a petition by Solapur resident Tate, to challenge the state government's decision to refuse her entitlements to her husband's pension.

According to a Supreme Court order, Mahadeo, Tate's husband, an employee, died in 1996.

Mahadeo was already married to another woman when he married the petitioner.

After his death, Tate and Mahadeo's first wife came to an agreement that the former would receive approximately 90% of the deceased's severance pay, while the latter would receive the monthly pension.

However, after Mahadeo's first wife died of cancer, Tate wrote to the state government asking for Mahadeo's pension to be given from now on.

After much deliberation, the state government rejected the four applications that Tate made between 2007 and 2014. Then Tate went to the Supreme Court in 2019 claiming that she was the mother of Mahadeo's three children, whom society knew as husband and wife, who was eligible for the pension, especially since The first wife who was receiving the pension is now dead.

However, the court held that several rulings of the Supreme Court had held that a second marriage should be considered void under Hindu Marriage Act if it was contracted without legally terminating the first marriage.

The bench noted that the state government was correct in its belief that only a legally married wife was entitled to a family pension.

The court also said that Tate had not dealt with her with "clean hands", as she had expressly relinquished her rights to the monthly pension as per the agreement between her and Mahadeo's first wife.

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