Once upon a time, I stumbled upon a friend who was distressed for her brother who was being intimidated by his girlfriend of being implicated in a rape case. Initially, it was suggested that the two were in love, had a sexual relationship, and marriage was in talks among the family members. But something was off, and eventually it was revealed that the girl had forced the boy into a sexual relationship, and now he was being forced into marriage by the girl, while the boy wanted to end the relationship because of temperamental differences between the two. When he mentioned about ending it, she threatened him of ruining his life with a rape case on the pretext of false promise of marriage, the trending legal provision.
Legal Standing on False Promise of Marriage
When the Indian Penal Code, 1860 was reigning the Criminal Laws in the Indian Legal System, Section 376 was used for punishing false promise of marriage to pursue sexual intercourse. It was upon the Courts to see if the specific ingredients of rape under Section 375 of IPC were fulfilled, and if there was really a promise of marriage for the said sexual intercourse and not a consent otherwise. Since similar cases were bombarding the Courts in recent years, the Legislature took note of this and brought in a separate provision for the same. Now, there is a separate offence of false promise of marriage under Section 69 of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, also known as BNS.
Section 69 of BNS
Section 69 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita punishes “Sexual intercourse by employing deceitful means, etc.”. The provision states that –
“69. Whoever, by deceitful means or by making promise to marry to a woman without any intention of fulfilling the same, has sexual intercourse with her, such sexual intercourse not amounting to the offence of rape, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to ten years and shall also be liable to fine.
Explanation.—“deceitful means” shall include inducement for, or false promise of employment or promotion, or marrying by suppressing identity.”
False Promise of Marriage under Section 69 of BNS – Meaning
The legal provision regarding false promise of marriage lays that any person who has sexual intercourse with a woman – by fraud or promising to marry a woman, without intending to fulfill the said promise, will be punished under Section 69 of BNS. The said action would not constitute the offence of rape, but an offence of having sexual intercourse by employing deceitful means.
Punishment for False Promise of Marriage
As per Section 69 of BNS, false promise of marriage is punishable with imprisonment of a maximum term of 10 years and fine. It may be noted that when the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita was not in existence, charges of false promise of marriage were imposed under the provision of Rape under Section 376 of IPC. Thus, at that time, the punishment for sexual intercourse by false promise of marriage was imprisonment for 10 years or life imprisonment. That’s why, while some people are criticizing the recognition of the same as a separate offence, Advocate Anam Siddiqui says that the punishment has comparatively reduced with Section 69 of BNS being a separate offence. The reason could be that the accusations would not stop, regardless of whether it was recognised as an offence or not.
Comments
In India, the respect and value of the marital union remains intact, and there is no question on that. However, while we have punishable offences like rape, sexual intercourse by deceitful means like false promise of marriage, etc., we are putting all the responsibility upon men. While a woman can also promise to marry, deceitfully make the man give her some expensive gifts, and then decide to leave the man while initially promising to marry him, that is not punishable. While sexual relationship involves two people, we somehow make it look like men are always after sexual relations, while women are naive all the time, who can be deceited even in the name of marriage. Since marriage or any kind of relationship is a two way responsibility, we should make some efforts to also recognize women’s part in such crimes. The idea is not to stop punishing men for doing it wrong, but also understand that men can be victims as well, and women can also be the perpetrators, and that such offences should be made gender neutral.
Also read – Ways to Fight Misuse of Laws by Women ~ by Adv Anam Siddiqui
FAQs around False Promise of Marriage
- Can you go to jail for a fake marriage promise?
Ans – Yes! A promise of marriage which is false and aimed at only making sexual relations with a woman can land a person into jail. The same has been recognised as an offence under Section 69 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
- What is evidence of breach of promise to marry?
Ans – It depends upon the facts and circumstances of the particular case. It could be WhatsApp chats, call recordings, some bills, etc. which would show that the two persons promised to marry but there was no intention of marrying from one side, who eventually breached the promise.
- What are the elements of a promise to marry?
Ans – The main ingredients of the offence of false promise of marriage are having sexual intercourse with a woman, by deceitful means, or with a promise to marry her, without actually intending to do so. It can be seen that Section 69 is not gender neutral, and thus, one of the features is that the victim can only be a woman.
- What is the misuse of BNS 69?
Ans – For offences like this where a man can be punished for a false promise of marriage or having sexual intercourse by deceitful means, there are chances of misuse because direct evidence is not easily available. A woman can complain of false promise of marriage and sexual intercourse, and the investigation would begin based on the complaint only. However, the man who may be falsely implicated will have to undergo the investigation and legal procedure until he gets the chance to show the evidence to the Court that there was no false promise of marriage, there was mutual consent to have a sexual intercourse, or that the promise of marriage was genuine and certain circumstances led to a sour end of the relation. There are chances of misuse because even if there was no sexual intercourse and a genuine proposal to marry, if things go wrong, Section 69 of BNS may be misused to torture the other side.
