Brides do fall prey in matrimonial frauds: Madras HC
The State government shall form a committee to frame necessary regulations in this regard, observed the judge.
Madras High Court (File)
CHENNAI: The Madras High Court observed that in the majority of matrimonial frauds, brides do fall as prey and directed the Union and State governments to formulate a regulation to ensure information which is uploaded on matrimonial websites to avoid marriage frauds.
Justice R M T Teekaa Raman observed that there are no rules or regulations, nor even SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) for online matrimonial websites before for hoisting profiles of bride or bridegroom.
Further, the judge directed the Union or State government to initiate the initiation formulation of rules governing the matrimonial website to ensure the basic information about the bride or bridegroom is verified.
Any information regarding the matrimonial status of the person should be specific and definite and should not be vague, observed the judge.
If any such misrepresentation falls under section 90 of IPC and has to be treated as a commission of offense and crime against women, as in the majority of the cases, brides do fall as prey, observed the judge.
The State government shall form a committee to frame necessary regulations in this regard, observed the judge.
The petitioner, Chakravarthy, moved the Madras High Court (MHC) seeking pre-arrest bail in connection with a criminal case against him.
According to the prosecution, the petitioner fraudulently posed himself as Prasanna, a doctor by profession and a Christian with false particulars on a matrimonial website. By doing so, he convinced the defacto complainant to marry her and cheated 80 sovereign gold jewels and Rs 68 lakhs from the complainant.
Further, the petitioner maliciously took semi-nude pictures of the complainant while video chatting and threatening her to extract a huge amount of money, said the counsel for the complainant.
It was contended that the petitioner is a habitual fraudster, cheated 17 women through matrimony websites, and extracted gold and money.
He adopted the modus operandi of making advertisements on the popular matrimonial website by uploading his profile, seeking brides, he targets well-educated, unmarried aged medical professionals, and deserting them after extracting valuables from them, contended the counsel.
After the submission, the judge refused to grant pre-arrest bail and dismissed the petition.
