The Calcutta High Court has ruled that a marriage-like relationship may attract criminal liability for cruelty even if the marriage itself is legally void or invalid. The decision reinforces judicial efforts to protect women from abuse in domestic relationships that closely resemble marriage.
The case arose from allegations made by a woman who claimed that she met a man in 2019 who represented himself as an unmarried orphan. According to her complaint, the man persuaded her to convert to Islam and marry him in July 2020. She later discovered that he was already married at the time of the ceremony.
The woman alleged that after learning the truth, she was subjected to physical and emotional abuse and was eventually forced to leave their shared residence in May 2022. Criminal proceedings were subsequently initiated against the accused.
Seeking relief, the accused approached the Calcutta High Court and argued that since the marriage was legally invalid due to his existing marriage, offences relating to cruelty could not be sustained.
Rejecting this contention, the High Court observed that courts must look beyond the technical validity of a marriage where evidence demonstrates that the parties cohabited in a relationship akin to marriage. The Court relied on principles laid down by the Supreme Court recognising that women in relationships “in the nature of marriage” should not be denied legal protection merely because the marriage suffers from legal defects.
The Court noted that evidence on record, including statements indicating that the parties lived together as husband and wife, was sufficient to allow the prosecution to proceed. It emphasised that permitting an accused to escape liability solely because he concealed an existing marriage and thereby rendered the subsequent marriage void would result in grave injustice.
The judgment aligns with recent judicial trends extending protection against domestic cruelty to women in genuine marriage-like relationships. By refusing to quash the proceedings, the Court affirmed that criminal law protections against cruelty may extend beyond formally valid marriages where the factual circumstances justify such protection.
The ruling is expected to have significant implications for cases involving fraudulent marriages, live-in relationships resembling marriage, and the interpretation of cruelty provisions under contemporary criminal law.