A man married both his girlfriends in the same mandap in a village in Chhattisgarh's Bastar recently. The uncommon marriage was consensual for the three newlyweds. Polygamy is the practice of marrying multiple spouses. When a man is married to more than one wife at the same time, sociologists call this polygyny.What law says about practise of polygamy in different faiths in india

While the practice of polygamy is outlawed in India, an exemption has been made for the Muslim community under the Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act, 1937. Polygamy violates Section 494 of Indian Penal Code which prohibits bigamy and nikah halala amounts to rape under Section 375 of IPC.

In 1997, the Supreme Court had refused to interfere with the practice of polygamy saying the matter was a policy decision and the courts should not interfere.