Man gets 3-year jail for filing false marriage affidavit in High Court

Chandigarh, October 19

A local court sentenced one Mandeep Singh to three years of rigorous imprisonment for submitting a false affidavit before the Punjab and Haryana High Court for seeking protection. The court also imposed a fine of Rs 4,000 on the convict even as it acquitted a woman in the case.

A complaint was filed by the HC Registrar (Vigilance) in 2018, saying that a petition was filed by a couple seeking protection of life and liberty wherein it was claimed that both were major and had married against the wishes of their family on September 15, 2018.

During the hearing of the petition, a woman appeared before the HC and filed an affidavit along with photographs claiming she was the legally wedded wife of accused petitioner Mandeep Singh and the marriage was still subsisting out of which a child had been born.

On her statement, proceedings under Section 340 CrPC read with Section 195 CrPC were ordered to be initiated after due inquiry. Both accused were charged with offences punishable under Sections 193, 199, 209, 406 and 494 of the IPC read with Section 120-B of the IPC and were taken into custody on September 18, 2018.

The public prosecutor claimed the accused had knowingly and intentionally made a false declaration before the HC about his marital status and in doing so, he had acted dishonestly and cheated the first wife and was guilty of commission of a serious offence of bigamy.

Ankur Chaudhrie, counsel for the accused woman, argued that she was not aware regarding the marital status of the accused. She also denied any role in submitting a false affidavit before the High Court. After hearing the arguments, the court sentenced Mandeep Singh to undergo three years of RI, besides imposing a fine of Rs 4,000 on him.