EMPEROR Vs. NAZIR KHAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Nazir Khan was convicted of an offence under Section 498 of the Indian Penal Code and sentenced to four months rigorous imprisonment. On appeal the conviction was maintained. The application in revision to this Court w grounded on three main contentions. (1) Because, the actual marriage of the complainant and the woman Sirtajan not being attempted to he strictly proved by evidence, the conviction under Section 498 is illegal. (2) Because under the present section the marriage cannot be presumed from the mere fact of cohabitation. (3) Because in any case, the woman having clearly stated that she had been divorced by Haidar Khan, unless the contrary has been proved, no conviction under the section can stand.

(2.) My attention has been called to the following rulings in support of the Arab ground. Empress v. Pitambur Singh (1879) I. L. R. 5 Calc. 566. In that case Garth, C.J., delivering the judgment of the Full Bench, said that "the fact of the marriage must be strictly proved in the regular way". That ruling was followed by this Court in Empress of India v. Kallu (1882) I. L. R. 5 All. 233. in which the evidence to prove the marriage was set out and was held to be insufficient. The next case referred to was Queen Empress v. Santok Singh Weekly Notes 1898 p. 186. In that case also the whole of the evidence with reference to the marriage is set out, and there too it was held to be insufficient. The next case cited was Queen Empress v. Dal Singh (1897) I. L. R. 20 All.222 166. There a Division Bench of this Court held that, "the court should require some better evidence of the marriage than the mere statement of the complainant and the woman."

(3.) What I think was meant in all these cases is that, as the fact and the legality of the marriage are material elements in a case under Section, 498, they must be proved as strictly as any other material facts, as for instance the enticing away of a woman with the intention mentioned in the section. I do not think these rulings lay down that the fact of the marriage can be proved only in some particular way. This case is much more like the case of Queen Empress v. Subbarayan (1882) I. L. R. 9 Mad. 9 and I entirely agree with the observations of the Judges who decided that case. As pointed out in that case," even a marriage in England may be proved by any person who was actually present and saw the ceremony performed it is not necessary to prove its registration or the licence or publication of the banns."