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The Telangana High Court has ruled that a failed personal relationship, by itself, does not constitute a criminal offence under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) if there was no fraudulent intent from the outset. The court made this observation while quashing criminal proceedings against a 28-year-old man who had been accused of cheating after allegedly failing to fulfil a promise of marriage.
Justice N Tukaramji exercised the court’s inherent powers under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), which allows High Courts to quash FIRs, investigations, or complaints to prevent abuse of the legal process. The court held that continuing the case would amount to such an abuse.
The case arose from a 2022 complaint filed by a woman, who alleged that the man had been in a relationship with her since 2018 and had promised to marry her. The relationship reportedly lasted around five years. When she later insisted on marriage, he refused. Although a community mediation in October 2022 briefly resulted in his agreement, he later withdrew, leading to charges under Sections 417 and 420 of the IPC.
The petitioner argued that the relationship was consensual and lacked any dishonest or fraudulent intent at its inception. His counsel contended that the complaint did not involve inducement leading to the delivery of property — a key requirement to establish cheating under the law.
The court agreed, noting that the allegations did not satisfy the essential ingredients of cheating under Section 415 of the IPC. It found no evidence of fraudulent intent at the beginning of the relationship and described the case as a consensual relationship that later failed.
Citing the Supreme Court’s ruling in State of Haryana vs Bhajan Lal, the court held that no offence was made out even if the allegations were accepted at face value, and accordingly quashed the proceedings.