New Delhi, Feb. 9: The Supreme Court today agreed to examine whether a Christian who gets divorce from the Catholic Church and remarries can be prosecuted for bigamy under the IPC Section 494.

Under Section 494 of the IPC, whoever marries again during the subsistence of an existing marriage can be jailed up to seven years and fined.

During the proceedings, the apex court wondered how long the country would be able to hold to its secular fabric and expressed concern at the growing cult of honour killings in the country.

"Every religion will say we would like to carry along our personal law. We have to stamp out religion from civil law. Look at how honour killings are happening in the country. You have to ostracise it," a bench of Justices Vikramjit Sen and C. Nagappan observed.

The observation came on a PIL that has said since courts in India recognise the dissolution of marriage by pronouncing the word "talaq" three times under Mohammedan Law, the same acceptance should be extended to Christians who end their marriage under the Code of Canon Law.

In a lighter vein, Justice Sen told senior counsel Soli Sorabjee, the petitioner's counsel: "King Henry VIII had not only divorced his wives, but also beheaded them."

When Sorabjee persisted with the PIL's argument, Justice Sen, heading the bench, asked: "How can you say ecclesiastical courts should prevail over civil law. Till now we are a secular state. We do not know how long it will remain?"

The bench added: "In a lighter vein, we are saying they will be beheaded."

The bench asked additional solicitor-general Neeraj Kishan Kaul, appearing for the Centre, to file a counter-affidavit on the PIL within four weeks and the petitioner to file a rejoinder two weeks thereafter. The matter has been posted for further hearing on April 8.

In 2013, the apex court had issued notices to the Centre but it had not filed a response so far.

The PIL was filed by an 84-year-old Catholic advocate, Clarence Pais, from Bangalore, seeking validity of the decree granted by the Catholic Church in India to Christians married under the Canon Law.

The petition said the issue was being raised in public interest for a declaration that the Canon Law was the personal law of Indian Christians and that a decree of dissolution of marriage granted by an ecclesiastical court is valid and binding on all courts in India.

It challenged the jurisdiction of the criminal courts in India to prosecute Roman Catholics under Section 494 of the IPC for alleged bigamy and claimed that the issue affects over 1 crore citizens.

Indian Catholics are governed by the Code of Canon Law on marriage as well as its dissolution. The Catholic marriage takes place in a Catholic church and in the event of either party seeking to nullify the union, an application needs to be filed under the Code of Canon Law before the canonical court in a diocese.

"The Code of Canon Law regulates and provides for the solemnisation of marriage by the parish priest of a Church, as also declaration of nullity of marriage. The Christian Marriage Act provides for the solemnisation of marriage in a Catholic church in accordance with the provisions of the Canon Law. ...The declaration of its nullity is regulated by the Code of Canon Law," the petition said.

According to the petitioner, hundreds of applications for declaring marriages null are pending before various ecclesiastical tribunals in India.

"If the criminal courts, while considering prosecution under IPC Section 494, reject the application of the Canon Law as the personal law of the Catholics, a very serious result will follow and hundreds of spouses under the second marriage will have to face prosecution, jail and fine," the petition said.

The petition cited Article 372 of the Constitution, which provides for continuance of several existing laws and their adaptation even after the Constitution has come into force.

"All the laws in force include not only the enactment of the Indian legislature but also the common law of the land which was being administered by the courts in India. This includes not only the personal laws - namely the Hindu and Mohammedan laws - but that of Indian Catholic viz., the Canon Law also Rules of the English common law...," the petition said.

"It is respectfully submitted that the Canon Law is the personal law of the Catholics of India and the Canon Law has to be applied and enforced by a criminal court while deciding a case under Section 494 of the IPC and sanction of prosecution considered for alleged bigamy of a Catholic spouse who has married after obtaining a decree for nullity of the first marriage from the ecclesiastical tribunal," the petition added.

In other words, it said if the decree of divorce is granted by a church, a person should not be prosecuted under Section 494 IPC.

The petition said the Catholic community has made several representations to the government but they had not evoked a favourable response. Hence, the jurisdiction of the apex court was being invoked, it added.