Non-performance of marriage per se not cheating
Non-performance of an already decided marriage by the accused after booking the hall for its performance, does not amount to committing an offence of cheating, says the Supreme Court (SC) in Raju Krishna Shedbalkar v State of Karnataka & Another.
For cheating, the intention to be proved
There can be multiple reasons for initiating a marriage proposal and then the proposal not reaching the desired end. To constitute an offence of cheating punishable, it must be proved by the prosecution that the intention to deceive on the part of the accused should be right from the beginning.
Facts of the case
The facts of the case are as follows: the complainant and the accused were about to marry and her father had also given Rs. 75,000/- in advance for the marriage hall, but this marriage did not place as she learnt from a newspaper report that the accused has in fact married someone else. Aggrieved by such an act of the accused, the complainant lodged an FIR against the accused and his family members under Sections 406/420/417 read with Section 34 of IPC.
SC quashed the case
The accused preferred an application under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) to quash the pending criminal case against him. However, the High Court while quashing proceedings under Section 406 and 420 IPC refused to quash the case under Section 417 IPC.
The SC relied on the other two cases linked below, in deciding this case.
Therefore, the accused approached the Supreme Court against the decision of the High Court and the appeal was allowed.
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