let me flip the situation.
Let us assume that Jagat was unmarried (no child marriage with anandi -- and completely single).
And he and Gauri moved in with the intention that they were going to marry. Gauri was under the impression that they would, eventually, get married which is why she lived-in with him and she was in a emotional relationship too. There is no legal certificate here, just a live in relationship.
Now all of a sudden, unmarried Jagat gets a call to go to jayetsar because dadisa is ill. He goes to Jayetsar telling gauri he will come back in a few months and re-enroll in M.S. Program.
He leaves her in Kunda-tai's PG room, and pays his rent for the next few months, thereby ensuring that his spot is taken care of and that kundatai has her rent.
He then goes to Jayetsar, and under dadisa's pressure, gets married to a girl in the village because she gives him a kasam to marry. This marriage to village girl is also legalized in a court setting because nowadays, Bhairon knows the important of a legal registration and that social marriage is not enough because too many documents later on will depend on legal certificate.
Now, the Jagya and village girl marriage is legal ... and gauri is left there in mumbai waiting for jagat to come home.
Has jagat done something illegal by ditching gauri? No. because they had no legal certificate to give their relationship any validity.
But is he a criminal for atleast not telling gauri that he will have to get married to someone else under his family's pressure?
Can he just walk in to Kundatai's one fine day with the village girl and tell her "this is my new wife, you please clear out -- our relationship was not legal anyway, we were just live-in"
That would be thoroughly immoral. (in my eyes), and would still make J a criminal in my eyes, if i were in gauri's place even if Jagat and I had no legal relationship.
How would gauri have reacted to that sort of situation?