Singapore: Singapore has sentenced a 49-year-old Indian national, Vaithialingam Muthukumar, to three months and three weeks in jail for bigamy after secretly marrying a second wife while still legally married to his first.

Vaithialingam’s bigamy was uncovered when his first wife, who works at KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital, where the second wife gave birth, spotted him visiting the hospital’s delivery suite. The first wife confronted him after discovering the secret second marriage, which the man had kept hidden.

Vaithialingam married his first wife, a 55-year-old Singaporean woman, in India in 2007 and moved to Singapore in 2011. Despite being legally married, he began a relationship with his colleague, Salmah Bee Abdul Razak, with whom he entered into a Muslim marriage in India in 2022. He promised to divorce his first wife, but did not follow through.

The case escalated when Vaithialingam applied for permanent residence in Singapore but concealed his second marriage in immigration documents. He pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit bigamy and submitting false declarations in his immigration applications.

Under Singapore’s Women’s Charter, bigamy is a criminal offence punishable by imprisonment of up to seven years and/or a fine. A subsequent marriage is considered void under the law, and the offender may lose inheritance rights relating to the second spouse. If the offender hides their prior marriage from the second spouse, penalties may increase to imprisonment for up to ten years and a fine of up to S$15,000.