Marriage promises made on false pretenses

Marriage Promise Fraud: Criminal Offence

The Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) was introduced on August 11, 2023, and assented to by the President on December 25, 2023. It became effective on July 1, 2024, replacing the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

There is one very important addition to the BNS which is Section 69, which specifically deals with the OFFENSE OF FALSE PROMISE OF MARRIAGE. This issue had previously been ambiguously defined under the IPC as a serious offense. There have been a growing number of cases where women have been deceived into sexual relationships under false promises of marriage, leading to the urgent need for the law to be clarified.

False Promises of Marriage as a Crime

The concept of false promise of marriage refers to situations in which a man induces a woman into sexual intercourse by deceitfully claiming that he is going to marry her, but does not actually intend to do so, despite having no genuine intentions to do so. Contrary to the case of rape, in which no consent is obtained, in the case of a false promise, consent is obtained through a fraudulent means. The False Promise of Marriage offense was dealt with under Section 375 of the Indian Penal Code (rape) and Section 90 of the Indian Penal Code (consent obtained by fraud) before the BNS. Deceptively obtained consent was interpreted by the courts as non-consensual, therefore such acts were punished under the laws of rape as non-consensual acts.

BNS Section 69 False Promise of Marriage
The offense is defined by Section 69 of BNS as:

The person who has sexual contact with a woman, whether it be by deceit or by making an innocent promise to marry her without any intention of fulfilling it, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term up to ten years, as well as fines. Such sexual contact should not amount to an act of rape, but instead, be an act that does not amount to rape.

Additionally, there is a clarification to Section 69 in that the definition of "deceitful means" includes false promises of employment, promotions, or marriage while suppressing the identity of the individual, and the following are the four key components:

Promise of marriage – The accused must have explicitly promised to marry the victim.

There is no real intent to marry – The promise must have been made on a false basis from the start.

Sexual intercourse based on a false promise – The consent of the victim must have been obtained as a result of the false promise that was made to the victim.

The act is not considered rape – Sexual intercourse that occurs without consent is considered rape, as opposed to false promises of marriage if it occurs without consent.

Promises that are false or breached

False promises of marriage and breaches of promises must be distinguished:

Marriage Promise Fraud – Despite the accused's best efforts, he was not interested in marrying, and deception was used to get consent to marry.

Breach of Marriage Promise – Even though the accused initially intended to marry, several external factors, such as family opposition, led to that marriage not taking place.

Men accused of “false promise of marriage ”:

The law could be misused – False accusations could be weaponized against men for revenge or coercion, leading to wrongful convictions.

Proving intent is difficult – Proving that the accused didn't intend to marry is difficult and requires significant evidence.

Conclusion

Introducing Section 69 of the BNS is a huge step forward in India's criminal justice system, resolving long-standing legal ambiguity that existed for a long time and won't be experienced again. A deterrent like the criminal code is indeed effective in stopping sexual exploitation, but prudence is also needed to avoid wrongful prosecutions when it comes to prosecution.