Allahabad, May 11 (PTI): Allahabad High Court has ruled that if a Muslim man is incapable of fostering his wife and children, he cannot be allowed to marry again.

A division bench of the court also said yesterday that a Muslim man’s marriage to a woman from another religion would be considered void if he failed to get her converted to his religion before wedlock.

The bench passed the order while dismissing the writ petition of Dilbar Habib Siddiqui of Allahabad who married a Hindu girl, Khushboo Jaiswal, last year.

Siddiqui had moved the court with the plea to quash an FIR lodged against him by Khushboo’s mother Sunita Jaiswal alleging that he had kidnapped her daughter and that she was a minor when he married her.

The court, however, noted that Siddiqui had not disclosed to Khushboo that he was already married and had three children. His first wife had appeared before the court and alleged that Siddiqui had abandoned her and the children. “If a Muslim man is not capable of fostering his wife and children, then he cannot be allowed the liberty to marry other women,” the court said.

The court also said: “For a valid Muslim marriage, both spouses have to be Muslim. In the present writ petition, this condition is not satisfied.”