Cannot act against Kumaraswamy in bigamy case: Lok Sabha secretariat

The Lok Sabha secretariat has said that it cannot initiate action against Bangalore Rural MP H D Kumaraswamy in a case of alleged bigamy, till the issue is decided by the court.

In reply to an RTI application filed by Subhash Chandra Agrawal, the secretariat said that the Speaker of the Lower House could initiate action in such cases on the grounds of concealment of facts in the declaration, only after the bigamy by members of the Hindu community is established by court.

“The offence of bigamy is punishable under the IPC. Hence, the authority to take action against a member belonging to the Hindu community having more than one spouse is the court,” the Lok Sabha secretariat said.

Agrawal had sought information on action taken against members belonging to the Hindu community having more than one spouse, including Kumaraswamy.

The secretariat said: “A complaint addressed to the Speaker was received. However, no action was taken by the secretariat as action in such matters can only be initiated on establishment of a bigamous relationship by a judicial verdict.”

The High Court of Karnataka had, on April 9, 2012, dismissed a writ petition, seeking a direction to the Lok Sabha Speaker to disqualify Kumaraswamy as Member of Parliament for allegedly marrying a second time, while his first wife Anitha is alive.

The secretariat said in the reply that Kumaraswamy had mentioned Anitha Kumaraswamy as his wife in his bio-profile and asset declaration and “he was not asked to furnish any details about his alleged second wife”.