In Brief
The petitioner sought a writ declaration that Canon Law governs Indian Catholics and must be applied by criminal courts in bigamy cases under IPC Section 494, arguing that a second marriage following an Ecclesiastical Tribunal's nullity decree should not constitute bigamy. The Court dismissed the petition, holding that statutory personal law legislation (the Christian Divorce Act) vests exclusive matrimonial jurisdiction in statutory courts alone. Ecclesiastical Tribunals have no binding authority in matters covered by such legislation; their decrees cannot supercede statutory law requirements. The Court affirmed that statutory provisions override all customary personal law and religious authority in matrimonial matters.
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