Marriage Ceremony Fraudulently Gone through without Lawful Marriage - Section 496

Nature of Offence:

1. Offences under this section are non-cognizable in nature which means a warrant is required by the magistrate for arresting the accused. In these types of cases, the police constable does not have the power to arrest any person infringing the right without any warrant from the court. 

2. These offences are bailable which means granting bail is a matter of right, for getting bail the person needs not to go to the court where it will be at the option of the police to grant bail or not.

3. These offences are non-compoundable offences, which means the victim is not ready to compromise and drop the charges against the offender.

IPC 496 can be tried in the court of Magistrate of First Class by the trial court- Court of a session. 

Punishment: The punishment of the offence under Section 496 is given under the same Section. The punishment for the offence is imprisonment of either simple or rigorous nature, for a term of maximum of seven years, in addition to a fine.

Case Laws:

Shiekh Altmuddin v Emperor: In the case of Shiekh Altmuddin v. Emperor, where the marriage ceremony which is gone through is invalid by the reason of existence of the previous marriage, then Section 496 shall not be applicable. It is subjected as an offence of bigamy which is dealt with under Section 494 of the IPC.

Kailash Singh v State of Rajasthan: The facts of the case of Kailash Singh v. the State of Rajasthan, was that an accused did a second marriage during the pendency of appeal against the decree of divorce. However, he did not conceal the fact from the girl. 

In this case, the court held that the accused is not liable for the offence under section 496 IPC as the mens rea is an essential element for 496. The accused did not have dishonest intentions.

How can you file a case under section 496 IPC: If there is a violation of Section 496 the concerned victim should first report the same to the nearest police station and lodge an FIR regarding the same without any cost. 

Or else for more convenience E- FIR can be filed since Section 496 is a cognizable offence. 

Steps for filing E - FIR is as follows - Visit the local or concerned police's official website for instance www.uttrakhandpolice.nic.in Once the website opens, click on the services option. 

 services option has a drop-down menu will appear and you have to click the nature of your case. 

Once the category is selected,  you have to provide the following information:

1. Complainant name 

2. Mother or father name of the complainant 

3. Complainant Email ID 

4. Date of incident 

5. Place of incident 

6. Time of incident 

7. Complainant phone number 

8. Any other relevant description of the case. 

Lastly, after submission, you have to enter the captcha code on the form for confirmation. 

Note - Before submission all the details should be rechecked and ensure that the email id is correct as the FIR for future reference will be sent to this mail ID. 

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After the FIR the police may conduct an investigation and if there is any substantive evidence the accused can be arrested by the police without any warrant since it is a cognizable offence. And to the contrary, if no evidence is produced the matter is not proceeded with. 

If any substantial evidence is found a charge sheet is prepared by the police. After completion of the charge sheet the matter is pursued as a trial in the court with the prosecution establishing the ingredients of section 496 and if successfully done then the accused may be imposed with imprisonment up to 6 months or fine or both depending upon the discretion of the court. 

How can you defend the case under section 496 IPC?

In the case of the accused, the accused can firstly apply for bail through a lawyer and since it is a bailable offence the bail will be granted by the court or the police. 

Further, the accused through a lawyer have to defend the matter and prove that there was no intent or belief to spread many dangerous diseases by the acts alleged in the cases. 

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Lawtendo will connect you with domain-specific expert lawyers handpicked with regard to the unique individual case from its array of 15000 lawyers. Along with it providing managerial assistance at every stage as well. 

Further, the lawyer will draft a petition for bail or for defending the accused in the trial or on behalf of the victim can file a petition for proving the ingredients of section 496 before the judge or provide assistance for filing FIR online.