LAW FOR ALL

“Section 493: Cohabitation caused by a man deceitfully inducing a belief of lawful marriage – Every man who by deceit causes any woman who is not lawfully married to him to believe that she is lawfully married to him and to cohabit or have sexual intercourse with him in that belief, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to ten years, and shall also be liable to fine.”-In the voters’ list the name of the complainant was shown as the wife of the appellant. As a result of the cohabitation, the complainant had given birth to two children. The accused-appellant had acknowledged the fact that the said two children were his children. Several ceremonies in relation to the birth of the children had also been performed by the accused-appellant. Upon perusal of the evidence, we further find that the accused-appellant had got a form, with regard to marriage registration, signed by the complainant. The form was signed by the accused-appellant and he also induced the complainant to sign the form so as to get married. The form duly signed by both the persons had been exhibited and the signature of the appellant had been identified. The afore-stated fact made the complainant to believe that the accused- appellant had married her and, therefore, she had started residing with him as his wife. In fact, the appellant did not marry the complainant. The persons related to the complainant and the accused were also made to believe that the complainant was the wife of the appellant, though rituals necessary for Hindu marriage had never been performed.