The Indian Government’s plans to replace the old framework that has governed the country’s criminal justice system since the British era has come to fruition. The union home minister, Amit Shah, introduced three bills which will replace the Indian Penal Code(IPC), the Criminal Procedure Code(CrPC), and the Indian Evidence Act (IEA).
In the section 69 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita(which will replace the IPC), which is related to sexual relations under false pretext of marriage or deceitful means. It goes like this:
“Whoever, by deceitful means or making a promise to marry a woman without any intention of fulfilling the same, and has sexual intercourse with her, such sexual intercourse not amounting to the offense of rape, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to ten years and shall also be liable to a fine.”
The IPC doesn’t have any specific clause to deal with complaints of such incidents. They are covered under section 90 of the IPC, wherein consent obtained through “a misconception of fact” is treated as invalid. The accused can be charged with the offense of rape, under section 375.
The significant point of section 69 under the new bill is in the details that define “deceitful means” which include “false promises of employment or promotion, inducement, or marrying after concealing one’s true identity.”
