Supreme Court: Mere failure to fulfil marriage promise without initial deceit not an offence under Section 69 BNS

The Supreme Court has clarified that a subsequent failure or refusal to marry, without initial deceitful intent, does not constitute an offence under Section 69 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023. A Division Bench of Justices J.B. Pardiwala and K. Vinod Chandran distinguished between a promise made with fraudulent intention from the outset and a genuine promise that is later broken due to changed circumstances.

The Court held that material evidence of deceitful conduct at the time the promise was made is necessary to attract Section 69 BNS. The bench quashed an FIR filed in Vadodara where a man alleged to have backed out of marriage after initially promising it, citing his mother's objection. The Court found the allegations disclosed a consensual relationship without deceitful conduct as required by law.

The judgment clarifies the scope of false promise cases, distinguishing genuine relationships that sour from those built on deliberate deception from inception.