On the crime of ‘false promise to marry’

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CategoryPolity

Last Updated12/09/2023

Section 69 of the proposed Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023 seeks to replace the Indian Penal Code (IPC), 1860, identifies ‘sexual intercourse on false promise of marriage’ as an offence.

If a man promises to marry a woman but never intends to, and still has ‘consensual’ sex with her, will amount to a criminal offence
At present, the offence is not carved out separately in the IPC.
Courts have dealt with similar cases through other provisions within the criminal law framework.
Section 69 creates two violations: one by deceitful means, and one by a ‘false promise to marry.’
Deceitful means will include the “false promise of employment or promotion, inducement or marrying after suppressing identity.”
The false promise to marry will be attracted only when a man makes a promise to marry a woman, with the intention of breaking it.
offences will extract a penalty of up to ten years of imprisonment.
In 2016, a quarter of the total rape cases registered in Delhi pertained to sex under ‘false promise of marriage’, as per Delhi Police data.
The National Crime Records Bureau in the same year recorded 10,068 similar cases of rape by “known persons on a promise to marry the victim” (the number was 7,655 in 2015).
In 2021, the Supreme Court reiterated that under Section 375, a woman’s consent “must involve an active and reasoned deliberation towards the proposed act”.
If a man can prove he intended to marry the woman before he entered into a sexual relationship, but later is unable to due to whatever reason, it is not legally punishable.