1. Painful is it to live in a friendless town; but for more painful is it to part from one’s lover. Thus speaks Thiruvalluvar in 1158 couplet of Thirukural:

“TAMIL”

Deep love, between a grown up man and woman and exchange of promise for marital ties, broke down irretrievably. Nothing was done on the promise. The woman calls him a cheat. Whether it is cheating as defined in Section 415 I.P.C ? Let this be resolved in this case.

2. The petitioner is the sole accused in C.C.No.937 of 2010 on the file of the learned Judicial Magistrate No.1, Tambaram. The second respondent is the defacto complainant in this case. The said case has been instituted on a police report submitted by the first respondent alleging that the petitioner has committed offences punishable under Sections 417 and 420 I.P.C. Seeking to quash the same, the petitioner is before this Court with this petition.

3. According to the case of the prosecution, the daughter of the second respondent, by name Vijayalakshmi, was employed in a private concern at Indira Nagar, Chennai. The petitioner also joined duty in the said concern during the month of May 2004. On account of their job, they started moving closely, which ultimately developed in to a love for each other. It is further alleged that the petitioner promised to marry her. In exchange of love with each other, the petitioner and the daughter of the second respondent had gone on trip to many amusement parks and other places. While so, the petitioner wanted to go over to Singapore in search of a job. For this, the second respondent’s daughter gave Rs.35,000/- to the petitioner. Finally, during the month of January 2010, the second respondent came to know that the petitioner had engaged for marriage with a different girl to be celebrated on 07.01.2010. On knowing the same, alleging that his daughter had been cheated by the petitioner, the second respondent preferred a complaint to the first respondent police, on which, the present case in Crime No.3 of 2010 has been registered.

4. During the course of investigation, the second respondent’s daughter, Ms.Vijayalakshmi, was examined and she has made a statement about the love affair between her and the petitioner and also the promise made by the petitioner to marry her. Four more persons have also been examined, who have also spoken to about the same in their respective statements. Based on the above, the first respondent laid charge sheet.

5. It is the contention of the learned Senior Counsel appearing for the petitioner, that even assuming that the entire allegations of love affair and the promise made by the petitioner to marry the daughter of the second respondent are true, still, the same would not make out an offence of cheating at all, as it is projected by the prosecution.

6. The learned Senior Counsel has placed reliance on a judgment of a Division Bench of the Calcutta High Court in Abhoy Pradhan v. State of W.B (1999 Cr.L.J 3534). That was a case where the accused was convicted for offence under Sections 376 and 420 I.P.C., on the allegation that under the promise of marriage, the accused had sexual intercourse with the victim. The Division Bench while acquitting the accused in the said case, has held that the mere promise to marry and later on withdrawing the said promise will not amount to an offence of cheating as defined in Section 415 I.P.C. In the said judgment, the Division Bench has held as follows:-

“16. We find from the complaint as well as from the evidence on record that the appellant sincerely wanted to marry the complainant. When he proposed to marry the complainant, his parents assaulted him and drove him out from their house. From these facts, we are unable to hold that appellant made any false promise/representation/assurance to the complainant with knowledge that such promise/representation/assurance was false in any manner. On the contrary we find that it is the specific case of the complainant as stated by her in her complai