dept of criminology University of Dhaka,Bangladesh

1. OFFENCES RELATING
TO
MARRIAGE

2. Chapter XX (section 493-498) of the penal code deals with
offences relating to marriage. The following are the main
offences under this chapter:
1. Mock or invalid marriages (sections 493 and 496)
2. Bigamy (sections 494 and 495)
3. Adultery (section 497)
4. Criminal elopement (section 498)
OVERVIEW

3. An overview on these sections, their details, and the
determined punishments can be provided below:

4. A mock marriage is an event where the Act of
matrimony takes place but holds no legal
significance due to release form that indicates
the event is not legally binding and more of a
play rather than the real event.
MOCK MARRIAGE

5. Section 493 says,
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
Will be punished with up to 10 Y RI/SI and will also be
fined.
Penal Code 1860

6. Section 496 says,
Whoever, dishonestly or with a fraudulent intention, goes through
the ceremony of being married, knowing that he is not thereby
lawfully married
Will be punished with RI/ SI of up to 7 years and fined.
Penal Code 1860

7.  Immigration fraud marriage
 Sham marriage
In United States, sham marriage for purposes of
immigration fraud is a felony.
TYPES OF FRAUD IN MARRIAGE

8. Kailahs Singh Vs. state of Rajasthan (1992 Cr LJ 1005Raj)
The accused person was a married person. He induced a girl
saying that he was unmarried. The parents of the girl also
believed in his words. They gave dowry and arranged marriage
between the accused and their daughter. At the time of the
marriage ceremony the parents came to know the fraudulent act
of the accused. The deceived girl complained the matter to
police. The court committed the accused under Section 496.
CASE REFERENCE

9.  The offence of marrying someone while already
married to another person.
 Bigamy has a condition of having two wives or two
husbands at the same time.
 In cultures that practice marital monogamy,
bigamy is the act of entering into a marriage with one
person while still legally married to another.
BIGAMY

10. Section 494 Says,
Whoever already having a husband or wife (living) marries again,
and the subsequent marriage is void due to the fact that the
accused already has a husband/wife ,
Shall be punished with RI/SI for up to 7 years and will
also be fined.
 If the person committing bigamy conceals that fact that he/she
is already married from the person he/she is subsequently
marrying, then the punishment is RI / SI for up to 10 years and
fine.
PENAL CODE 1860

11.  The second marriage is void due to the subsistence of
the first.
 The existence of a first husband or wife.
 Absence of either of the exceptions mentioned
above.. Existence of the first wife or husband when
the second marriage is celebrated.
POINTS TO BE PROVED ON A CHARGE OF BIGAMY

12. Adultery refers to sexual acts
between a married person and
someone who is not that person's
spouse. It is an act which requires
the consent of both the parties.
Adultery

13. Section 497 defines the offence of “Adultery”.
“Whoever has sexual Intercourse with a person who
is and whom he knows or has reason to believe to
be the wife of that man, without the consent of
that man, such sexual intercourse not amounting
to rape, is guilty of adultery.”
Penal Code 1860

14. • He knows or has reason to believe to be the
wife of another man.
• Must be without the consent of husband.
• Must not amount to rape.
Elements of Adultery

15. If we review the history we see that women were
the worst sufferer and were punished severely.
Historical Review

16. Divorce and Adultery
27%
9%
6%
1%17%
15%
10%
15% Infidelity
domestic Violence
Money
Children
Incompatibility
Adultery
Abuse
Others

17. Recent condition
65%
35% Male
Female

18.  Murder of own child
 Murder of spouses
 Increasing rate of divorce
 Many murder or homicide case related to it.
Offences related to Adultery

19. It is stated in Penal Code that only the male
offender alone is liable to punishment and
the married woman is not liable even as an
abettor.
• Imprisonment extends to five year.
• Fine
• Or imprisonment & fine both.
Punishment

21. • Today the term “Elopement” colloquially used for
any marriage performed in haste, with a limited
public engagement period.
• In the 17th and 18th centuries criminal elopement
was a serious social and legal problem in England
and its American colonies.
CRIMINAL ELOPEMENT

22. Section 498 Says,
Whoever takes or entices away any woman whom he
knows or has reason to believe to be the wife of another,
from that other, with the intent that she may have illicit
intercourse with any person or conceals or detains her
with that intent.
Punishment: RI/SI of up to 2 years or fine or both
PENAL CODE 1860

23.  Takes or entices away
 Women to be married women.
 Intension to have illicit intercourse.
 Conceals and detains such women.
 Knowledge and reason to believe that the woman is
the wife of another man.
INGREDIENTS OF CRIMINAL ELOPEMENT

24.  Some couples elope because they wish to avoid
objections from parents or Religious obligations.
 Eloping couples may be at higher risk for divorce and
overlook legal protections.
 Some elopement involved criminal conducts
including Kidnapping, Seduction, Murder & Adultery.

25.  Alamgir V. State of Bihar (1918). Kalk. L.R. 504
 Emperor V. Mahiji Fula (1933). BOM. L.R. 1046
CASE STUDY

26. "Marriage shall be entered into only with the
free and full consent of the intending spouse"
-Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 16
FORCED MARRIAGE

27. • A forced Marriage is a marriage that is performed
under duress & without the full & informed consent or
free will of both parties.
 Duress includes both physical and emotional pressure.

28.  Although the Child Marriage Restraint Act sets the
age of consent for marriage at 18 years of age for
females and 21 years of age for males, this law is
generally not enforced and many underage girls are
secretly married off by their parents.
 Bangladesh does not have a specific law banning
forced marriage.
IN BANGLADESH

30.  Forced Marriage (Civil Protection) Act 2007
 The Anti-social Behavior,Crime and Policing Act 2014
Section 121 provides:
A person commits an offence in England and Wales if he or she:
(a) uses violence, threats or any other form of coercion for the
purpose of causing another person to enter into the marriage, and
(b) believes, or ought to reasonably believe, that the conduct may
cause the other person to enter into the marriage without free and full
consent.
Will be punished with imprisonment of up to 7 years
UK LAW

31.  The Scottish Parliament introduced the Forced
Marriage (Protection and Jurisdiction) (Scotland) Act
2011.
 The Istanbul Convention prohibits forced marriages.
Article 37 – Forced marriage
Parties shall take the necessary legislative or other measures to
ensure that the intentional conduct of forcing an adult or a child
to enter into a marriage is criminalised.

32.  The Qur'an clearly states “O you who have believed, it is
not lawful for you to inherit women by compulsion ...”
(4:19)
Forced marriages are not allowed in Islam according to the
Quran and hadiths.
ISLAMIC LAW

33. In 2014 the UK’s Forced Marriage Unit dealt with
1267 possible cases of forced marriage involving
a total of over 88 different countries specifically.

34. 21%
79%
Victims
Male
Female

35. 11%
11%
17%
14%8%
5%
2%
32%
Age of Victims
Below 16 Years
16-17
18-21
22-25
26-30
31-40
41 or Over
Age Unknown (ADULT)

36. Pakistan
(38.3%)
India
(7.8%)
Bangladesh (7.1%)
Afghanistan (3%)
Somalia (1.6%)
Turkey (1.1%)
Sri Lanka (1.1%)
Iran (1.0%)
Iraq (0.7%)
• 135 cases involved
victims with disabilities.
• 8 involved victims who
identified themselves as
lesbian, gay, bisexual or
transgender (LGBT).
The origin was unknown in 3.5% of
cases

37.  Marital rape is non consensual sex in which the
perpetrator is the victim’s spouse.
 According to PK Bergen [1999] marital rape can be
defined as any unwanted intercourse or penetration
obtained by force, threat of force or when the wife is
unable to consent, by her husband.
MARITAL RAPE

38.  It is often a chronic form of violence for the victim. It
is more about humiliation, degradation anger and
resentment.
Research by RAINN revealed that victims of Marital
Rape suffers from trauma.

39. Survivors’ account reveals that husband rape mostly to
 Reinforce their power
 Control over their wives and families
 To vent anger or aggression.
CAUSES OF MARITAL RAPE

40. Many countries in this world recognise Marital Rape as an
offence. But it is not an offence in Bangladeshi Law.
Section 375 of Penal Code 1860 makes it clear,
“Sexual intercourse by a man with his own wife, the wife not
being under thirteen years of age, is not rape.”
MARITAL RAPE AS AN OFFENCE

41. Countries where Marital rape
is criminal offence
Countries where Marital rape
is not criminal offence
USA Bangladesh
UK Pakistan
Australia India
Sweden Afghanistan
Switzerland China

42.  Researchers’ estimated that between 10% and 14% of all
married women experienced rape in marriage.
-[D. Finkelhor & Kyllo (1985)]
 In India 2% or 3% of all married women claimed to have been
victims of marital rape. [UNFPA. 2000].
While one in every five man admitted to raping their wives [ICRW.
2011]
 In USA a study conducted in Boston found that 10% of married
women are the victim of spousal rape.
STATISTICS

43. 34%
66%
Marital Rape
Victim
Not victim

44. Dowry is the transferring parental property at the marriage of a
daughter , referred as the money, goods or estate that a wife
brings to her husband at marriage and it contrasts with bride
price paid to the bride's parents and dower, which is property
settled on the bride herself by their grooms at the time of
marriage .
MARRIAGE OFFENCES RELATING TO DOWRY

45. According to section 3 and 4 of Dowry Prohibition Act
1980,
If any person, gives or takes or abets the giving or
taking of dowry,
shall be punished with less than one year or with fine or
with both.
DOWRY PROHIBITION ACT 1980

46.  In Bangladesh marriage rules there isn’t section that gives assurance to
the groom about any kind of property , money or goods from the bride
family. so its unlawful to take anything or want anything from the
brides family. so it should be an offence relating to marriage in our
penal code.
 In Indian Penal Code cruelty against women is an important section for
offence relating to marriage but unfortunately in our country we don’t
have this kind of section in our penal code. Although we have an act
against dowry but we don’t have particularly any specific section in the
Penal Code.

47. Section 498(a) -cruelty against women
Husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to
cruelty.- Whoever, being the husband or the relative of the
husband of a woman, subjects such woman to cruelty
shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which
may extend to three years and shall also be liable to
fine.
INDIAN PENAL CODE

48. 1. Section No. 494 of the penal code talks about bigamy or
marrying again during lifetime of husband or wife. A criticism
about this section is that it does not recognize the death of the
spouse. Although this issue is recognized by the English Law as an
exception, it has not been inserted in the Penal Code of
Bangladesh.
CRITICISMS

49. 2. Section No. 494 has another flaw when it comes to bigamy practiced by Muslim
and Hindu males. The Hindu and Mohammedan laws permit polygamy and
therefore this section of the penal code has no application to the Hindu and Muslim
males. This issue can be criticized greatly as the section is not applicable for the
major part of the male population of our country as 90.4% of the total population
of Bangladesh is Muslim (before 2012). This section will apply to Buddhist and
Christian males, who contribute very little to the total male population compared to
the Muslims and Hindus.
CRITICISMS

50. 3. Section No. 497 of the penal code talks about adultery. This
section has been criticized on the one hand for allegedly treating
woman as the private property of her husband, and on the other
hand for giving women complete protection against punishment
for adultery. A sexual link between a married man and an
unmarried woman or a divorcee or a widow does not come within
the ambit of adultery according to this section. Women do not fall
liable for the act of adultery though if they may show consent
towards it. On the other hand, in the case of a married woman the
adulterer will not be liable if the husband consents to it.
CRITICISMS

51. 4. Another flaw can be pointed out that the penal code specifically does not say
anything about marital rape. Whereas in the section no. 375, the code talks about
rape and recognizes an exception: “Sexual intercourse by a man with his own wife,
the wife not being under thirteen years of age, is not rape.” The Penal Code does
not view a man forcefully establishing sexual intercourse with his wife, when she is
over the age of thirteen as rape. But marital rape is currently recognized by the
laws of the countries like USA, UK, Australia, Canada, Sweden, Switzerland etc.
CRITICISM

52. 5. The Penal Code has no probation regarding the issues
such as forced marriage, child marriage, offences relating to
dowry etc, although these issues can be enlisted into the
offences relating to marriage and are very much frequent
phenomena in our society.
CRITICISMS

53. Thank you