Author Details:-

TARUMITA BISWAS
1^st Years, B.Sc. LL.B
West Bengal National University of Juridical Science
NUJS, Kolkata

Introduction:

Having Consummation after gaining consent from a woman by promising her to marry without having any such intention to do so is a criminal offence considered by Indian Law.

This is covered under section 69 of BNS (Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023). Not only this law but there are many consequences related to this offence. This article discusses those facts and their implementation in society.

Common Intentions Behind the Offence:

Various intentions can be followed by “false promise to marry”. All those intentions are just for personal gain. Possible mal-intensions which can be easily fulfilled by befooling the partner are as shown below:

1. Sexual Exploitation: A person might have an intention to engage in a sexual relationship with the targeted person, gaining the consent of that person by falsely promising to marry her and exploiting her trust and emotions.
2. Financial Gain: The person making the false promise might intend to gain financially. Some examples are borrowing money, receiving gifts, getting a financial source, and manipulating the partner’s “lover’s mind”- the blind trust.
3. Emotional Manipulation: The person with mal-intention can threaten to leave the person or play with their partner’s mind with fake emotions and gather sympathy or any other possible psychological manipulation tricks to gain what they demand.
4. Reputation and Social Status: Promising marriage might be used as a weapon for the partner with a higher social standing. When both have done something consensually, and society is aware of the marriage, it gets hard to get out of the trap used by the manipulator who threatens.
5. Avoiding Commitment: In some cases, some people make the promise of marriage as they want to temporarily placate the other party without any real intention to marry to avoid immediate conflict or pressure for commitment.
6. Personal Gratification: A person might gather psychological satisfaction from the power and control over the other person, enjoying attention and affection without any genuine intention of marriage. Kind of Emotional Domination gives them mental Dopamine.

Legal Aspects:

“False promise to marry” and offences related to this are all Legal Consequences. One might get help with the Penal Code and call Justice for what they lost. Previously, IPC (INDIAN PENAL CODE, 1960) and New BNS (THE BHARATIYA NYAYA SANHITA, 2023) mentioned all the acts that are relevant to False Promise to marriage and also acts for other offences to place with the said one.

• Sexual Intercourse by Deceitful Means or Falsely Promise to Marry: (IPC: null, BNS: 69)
• False Marriages:

Cohabiting with a person in false belief of marriage on either party. (IPC: 493, BNS: 80)

married person Cohabiting with someone in the false promise of marriage.

If known to partner about former marriage. (IPC: 494, BNS: 81)

If concealed, the knowledge of the fact of a former marriage. (IPC: 495, BNS: 81)

• Rape: (IPC: 376, 376A, BNS: 63,64)
• Criminal Breach of Trust: (IPC: 405,406, BNS: 314)
• Consent Gained from Fear/Misconception: (IPC: 90, BNS: 28)
• Repeat Offender: (IPC: 376E, BNS: 71)
• Cheating: (IPC: 417, BNS: 318)

Analysis:

Analysing most of the Supreme Court cases, it is found that most of the false promise to marriage cases lead to rape matters. In those matters, it is seen that female victims have given consent to the accused to get physically related to the accused as the accused assured her that he would marry her.

There are various types of consequences in such cases, and those are given in a brief below:

• False Promise to Marry: Offenders promising to marry without intending to do the same is a crime, and according to IPC, it is counted as a crime that leads to rape (offence). Landmark Judgement on this matter is: Uday v. State of Karnataka, (2003) 4 SCC 46 [1]
• Repeat Offender: One case mentions that one person forcefully had intercourse with the victim, in simple words, raped the victim, and after the incident, the accused told the victim not to disclose the matter as he was going to marry the victim and continues the crime. [2]
• False Promise to Marry (Under 16 years): In a case, the accused had sexual intercourse with a minor girl aged under 16 years old. So in this matter, the offender is also accused of rape. [3]
• Criminal Breach of Trust: Playing with someone’s trust after gathering that trust and consent in deceitful means concludes a Criminal Breach of Trust. [4]
• Cohabiting with a person in the false belief of marriage on either party: In a Case, a couple married in secrecy, living like a husband and wife. When the husband married a 2^nd lady without informing the former wife, she approached the Registrar of Marriages and found that the marriage was not registered. [5]
• Misconception of Fact: There is a difference between the sexual intercourse done by the Consent given to either False Promise to Marriage or Misconception of Fact. For the consent given to misconception of fact does not constitute rape. Whereas Consent acquired by False Promise to Marriage is formed as rape, and the relevant Punishments are given. [6] [7]
• Consensual Intercourse: Doing consensual physical relations where the consent is given voluntarily and without the influence of any deceitful means doesn’t constitute “rape”, “misconception of fact”, or a “false promise to marry”. [8]
• Promise to Marry Fulfilled: One Case mentions that the victim is actually the wife of the accused. Primarily, the accused denied marrying the victim after having sexual relations with the victim after gaining consent by falsely promising to marry. Under the peer pressure from the victim’s family, they solemnised marriage according to Vedic rites and ceremonies. But later, it was found that the accused willingly married her, so all the charges of False Promise to marry were quashed. [9]
• When False Promise to Marry is not leading to rape: A case mentions that the prosecutrix is already married and had sexual intercourse with a person who assured her that he would marry her after she divorced her abusive husband, but later it was found that the lady made the second marriage (common-law marriage) while being married with the previous husband making the second marriage void. When the appellant (2^nd husband) denied doing a registry with the prosecutrix, she filed the case against him. But in the judgement from the supreme court, the verdict says that “No Rape on False Promise to Marry if the Victim is already married.” [10]

Conclusion:

Not only just putting the limelight on Legal Aspects, this type of crime hampers the victim’s emotional health. Law provides Justice, compensation, and proper punishment to the accused. However, the emotional breakdown and lowered social view of the victim might drag the person to wrong decisions. On the other hand, even a falsely accused person can face the same consequences. Others cannot help them but can put blame, worse remarks or remorse, which is actually not working for them.

End Notes:

Uday v. State of Karnataka, (2003) 4 SCC 46

Pradeep Kumar v. State of Bihar, (2007) 7 SCC 413

Deelip Singh v. State of Bihar, (2005) 1 SCC 88

Pradeep Kumar v. State of Bihar, (2007) 7 SCC 413

Ashwin Nanabhai Vyas v. State of Maharashtra, (1970) 3 SCC 95

Pramod Suryabhan Pawar v. State of Maharashtra, (2019) 9 SCC 608

Kaini Rajan v. State of Kerala, (2013) 9 SCC 113

Dhruvaram Murlidhar Sonar v. State of Maharashtra, (2019) 18 SCC 191

Ajeet Singh v. State of U.P., (2024) 2 SCC 422

[10] XXXX v. State of M.P., (2024) 3 SCC 496