Marrying, Or Having Sex With Woman By Hiding Identity To Be Crime Under Proposed Law

Marrying a girl by hiding your original identity or having sexual intercourse under false promises of marriage will be treated as crime under the proposed law.

The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) Bill, which will replace the IPC of 1860, will have a special focus on the provisions related to crimes against women. "Crime against women and many social problems faced by them have been addressed in this bill," Union Home Minister Amit Shah said in the Parliament.

"For the first time, intercourse with women under the false promise of marriage, employment, promotion and false identity will amount to a crime," he said.

Although courts have addressed instances where women have alleged rape due to a breach of promise of marriage, the Indian Penal Code (IPC) does not contain a dedicated provision for such cases.

The bill, which will now be examined by a Standing Committee, states: "Whoever, by deceitful means or making by promise to marry to a woman without any intention of fulfilling the same, and 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."

It further states that "deceitful means" shall include the false promise of employment or promotion, inducement or "marrying after suppressing identity".

Speaking to PTI, senior criminal lawyer Shilpi Jain said the introduction of this provision has been overdue. The absence of such a provision previously led to cases not being unequivocally considered as crimes, leaving room for various interpretations from both parties involved. Although some individuals viewed the inclusion of the "marrying after suppressing identity" provision as being aimed at instances of interfaith marriages using false identities, Jain stated that this interpretation remains subject to debate.

The key point here is that consent of the victim taken under false pretence cannot be termed voluntary, she said. "Women are being exploited in our country by men who have sex with them after promising them marriage and it's an offence if men at the time of making the promise had no intention to marry," she said. Jain, however, said that clubbing false promise of marriage with promise of employment or promotion in this provision may not be the right way to go forward.

"Promise to marry cannot be equated with promise of employment/ promotion because promise of marriage is based on love, trust, while promise of employment/ promotion are benefits which women are accepting in return for sex. It's a relationship of mutual benefit. "When a woman knows what she is getting into -- that is sex for employment or promotion -- then it is not under deceitful or false promise," she adds.