False Marital Allegations Prevention (Preliminary) Act

FALSE MARITAL ALLEGATIONS PREVENTION (PRELIMINARY) ACT

An Act further to prevent unsubstantiated allegations arising out of marital differences.

BE it enacted by the Parliament in the Seventy-First Year of the Republic of India as follows: —

1. Short title, extent, commencement and abrogation: (1) This Act may be called the False Marital Allegations Prevention (Preliminary) Act, 2020.
   (2) It extends to the whole of India.
   (3) It shall come into force on such date as the Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint.
   (4) It shall stand repealed with effect from the date of commencement of a comprehensive Act intended to fulfil or transcend the purposes of this Act, as the case may be.
2. Interpretation: For the purposes of this Act, (1) the term “law enforcement agency” shall refer to such agencies as are, subject to statutory provisions, vested with the powers of conducting investigations, filing charge sheets, conducting arrests and executing such functions as are performed by police departments throughout the territory of India,
   (2) the term “common city” shall refer to the city of residence of both the plaintiff and the defendant,
   (3) the term “case” shall refer to such cases as appertain to any number of or all marital issues.
   (4) the term “Court” shall be subject to the definition of court in Section 20 of the Indian Penal Code,
   (5) the term “eventual conviction” shall refer to the state of being convicted after pronouncement by the final Court hearing the case whereafter the case may not be referred to a higher court for any reason.
3. Notwithstanding the provisions of any existing law, the filing of all cases shall mandatorily be made at a Court in the common city.
   Explanation — The legal provisions whereby the married woman possesses the right to file cases in the city of her choice shall for the purposes of this Act be rendered ineffective and all cases shall mandatorily be registered in the same Court in the common city.
4. The legal provisions of Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code shall also be available to men.
5. The arrests under Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code shall be made bailable.
6. The plaintiff shall if he or she so wills be provided with police security till such time as the extant case or consolidation of cases may be heard at the Court
   Provided that such security shall be made available only after the filing of a First Information Report
   Provided further that such security shall be made available only at the residence of the plaintiff.
7. Notwithstanding extant procedures, the law enforcement agency shall after the arrest of the accused conduct a comprehensive investigation in re the case and record in writing the statements of immediate family members or other members in the know of either party and shall prepare a report thereon.
8. The charge sheet and the report as mentioned in Section 7 shall be made available to the Court prior to the first session of hearing.
9. Such agreement between the plaintiff and the defendant as may be intended to effectuate a compromise shall be presided over by a judicial officer appointed by the Court.
10. The dismissal of the defendant from his or her occupation on grounds of extant cases shall be an offence wherefor the defendant may seek such amount for compensation as he or she may deem fit
    Provided that nothing in this section shall be effective upon the eventual conviction of the defendant.
11. Notwithstanding the provisions of any existing law, the defendant shall upon discovery by Court of the case being false mandatorily be paid compensation by the plaintiff.