Deceiving women into marriage, sex with fake identity to attract 10-year imprisonment

New-Delhi: Marrying a woman by concealing identity or having sex under false promise of marriage will attract up to 10-year imprisonment under the proposed law introduced on Friday, informed Home Minister Amit Shah.

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.

“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,” the proposed laws says.

While IPC has no specific or explicit clause dealing with sexual intercourse based on a false promise of marriage, such instances are typically covered under Section 90 of the IPC, where consent obtained through a ‘misconception of fact’ is deemed invalid. In these cases, the accused can be charged under Section 375, which addresses the offence of rape.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday introduced three bills that will replace colonial-era laws in the country. The three bills- Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) Bill, 2023; Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) Bill, 2023; and Bharatiya Sakshya (BS) Bill, 2023- seek to replace the Indian Penal Code, 1860, Criminal Procedure Act, 1898, and the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 respectively.