Later Failure to Marry Does Not by Itself Trigger BNS Section 69: Kerala High Court

Deceit must exist at the inception

The Kerala High Court has clarified the threshold for Section 69 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023. A later refusal or inability to marry does not, without more, convert earlier consensual sexual relations into the statutory offence.

The Court distinguished a false promise made from the beginning, with no intention of performance, from a genuine promise that later fails because the relationship changes or circumstances intervene. Section 69 targets sexual intercourse induced by deceitful means or a promise of marriage made without an intention to fulfil it.

Breakdown is not automatically criminal

While exercising inherent jurisdiction under Section 528 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, the Court stressed that the complaint must disclose facts connecting the initial representation to the complainant’s decision to consent. The ruling does not immunise deliberate deception; it prevents ordinary relationship breakdowns from being labelled criminal solely by hindsight.