The government has submitted three bills to the Lok Sabha to enact new criminal laws in the country. Under the proposed rule, those who have sex with others by declaring a false identity will be prosecuted. Some sections of society have seen the specific provision "marriage after identity suppression" targeting cases of inter-religious marriages under false names.
The new bills mention that sex by means of deception or the promise of marriage without the intention of doing the same, intercourse that does not constitute rape, will be punishable. A maximum sentence of 10 years in prison has been proposed under the new criminal law. “Whoever by deceitful means or by promising to marry a woman does not intend to do so and have intercourse with her, but such act of intercourse does not constitute rape, shall be imprisonment for a term of up to ten years and also fines,” the bill states.
The term "fraudulent means" has been defined to include false promises of employment or promotion, incitement, or "marriage after identity suppression".
The Indian Penal Code does not have any specific provision for such an offense, but Article 90 of the ICC mentions that a woman cannot be considered to have consented to sexual intercourse if at all" false truth".
However, the proposed law explicitly states that a man seeks sex with a woman by "deceptive means" or by making her promise to marry him without any intention of doing so. the same is the offense. Since "removal of identity" has been included in the definition of "a means of fraud", a man who lies about his religious identity in order to have sex with a woman would also be subject to the law. On Friday, Union Interior Minister Amit Shah introduced three bills that would replace colonial-era laws in the country. Three bills - Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) Bill, 2023; Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita Bill (BNSS), 2023; and Bharatiya Sakshya (BS) Bill, 2023 – which seeks to replace the Indian Penal Code of 1860, the Criminal Procedure Act of 1898 and the Indian Evidence Act of 1872 respectively.
The Home Secretary said offenses against women and children, murder, and offenses against the state take precedence in the bills.
