In 1995 a two-judge Bench of the Supreme Court held that a Hindu husband who converts to Islam cannot validly contract a second marriage while his first Hindu marriage subsists — the second marriage is void and the convert is guilty of bigamy under Section 494 IPC. A digest of the facts, the ratio on conversion and bigamy, and the obiter call for a Uniform Civil Code.
On 8 March 2018, a three-judge Bench of the Supreme Court — Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice A.M. Khanwilkar, and Justice D.Y. Chandrachud — set aside the Kerala High Court's annulment of Hadiya's marriage and reaffirmed the constitutional protection of an adult's right to choose her faith and her life partner. The substantive disposition engaged the constitutional architecture of autonomy, identity, and personal liberty, and articulated doctrinal contributions that have anchored subsequent engagement with the right to choose. A digest of the holding, the doctrinal architecture, and the broader trajectory.