Corrections needed in BNS 69 to prevent false cases!

The new Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita (BNS) is in negative news because it is fully against men. A woman can jail any man with just a statement that she was raped with promise of marriage. There are lots of debates on social media but no one is thinking of a solution or what corrections can be made to the law (BNS Section 69) to make it fair. [News]

Rape on False promise of marriage- required corrections

#1 Where did they meet? If a man and woman meet on a dating site or app (Tinder etc) then rape on false promise of marriage should not be applicable. Dating sites and apps exist for a different purpose. Those serious about marriage should find their partner on matrimonial sites or apps.

#2 Already married? If a woman is already married, she can not claim someone else offered to marry her.

#3 Were they together? There should be some evidence that the man and woman were in a private area at the time of claimed rape. Woman should state date, time and location, police can check the following to assess if there is any merit in woman's claims

- Mobile location of man & woman are same?

- CCTV footages in the area where the crime happened

- Any possible eye witness who might have seen them together

- Any other evidence like entry into hotel register

- Any other evidence that the man was NOT at the location at the time of crime

These checks will ensure a man is safe if he is not entering into any private space with woman. Just meeting someone, having a chat etc should not result in 10 year jail.

It takes time before two people know each other and assess if they like each other to stay together for rest of their life. No one decides to get married on day 01. If two people are intending to get married, usually there will be an engagement function. Many common friends will know that these two are looking to get married. Thus law can enforce following checks:

#4 Cool off period

- No "Rape on false promise of marriage" complaint should be entertained within initial 1 month of a man and woman knowing each other. This much time is needed for anyone to come to a conclusion that he/she is the right person. A woman shouldn't offer her body so soon in a relationship, even if it is likely to end in marriage- give it a month at least. Man also gets some time to walk away if he decides this is not the girl for him.

#5 Engagement 

- Let there be an engagement- if a man and woman know each other for more than 6 months and have decided to marry, at least hold a simple engagement function before getting into bed. This will be a clear evidence of intention to marry.

#6 Age

If boy is minor, woman is major, it should be woman's responsibility to ensure the man is of marriageable age before getting into intimate relationship. 

If boy is major, girl is minor, it is man's responsibility to ensure girl is of suitable age, else not get into any kind of relationships

If both are minors I think becomes a juvenile rape case, not rape on false promise of marriage

#7 Confirmation from a mutual friend

- Get at least 1 mutual friend to testify man and woman are interested in marriage- between 1 month and 6 month, at least a few friends and family members will know that the man and woman are serious about each other. It can't be so secret. 

#8 Extorsion

If there are any evidence found that woman or her friends using the law to extort money from man (their bank statements, sudden withdrawal of money from man's account, evidence of seeking large sum of money etc), then the case should be squashed immediately. A woman who is really affected will not settle for financial compensation- she would like to see the man in jail. Only those who have other ulterior motives will use this law to extract as much money as possible from the man and then withdraw the case- as they get nothing if man goes to jail.

#9 Punishment for false accusations

If a woman's case is found to be false, there should be clear punishment to discourage her and other women from doing similar things

Summary:

An Adult woman has all the rights and responsibility to protect her interests before going to bed with someone promising something. There is also a need to protect innocent man from being charged falsely. Once a rape charge if filed a man loses his job, has no way to prove his innocence. Each man jailed for no fault of his, several women his mother, sister, daughter, wife (if any) are also severely impacted, which is injustice to women. Thus we need the law to be fair to both genders, making it evidence based and not merely statement based.

Intention of this post is NOT to deny anyone their rights, but to put some checks and balance to ensure the law is NOT misused.