ORDER :

The petitioners in Crl.OP(MD)No.7462 of 2020 and Crl.OP(MD)No. 520 of 2020 are the accused 1 to 3 in CC.No.71 of 2015 on the file of the Judicial Magistrate, Thiruvaiyaru for the offences punishable under Sections 420 and 493 of the Indian Penal Code.

2. The case of the prosecution in brief is as follows:

The defacto complainant Manjula was given in marriage to V.Vibulananthan @ Ranjan (A1) on 10.04.2020 by her parents Kaliyamoorthy and Selvi at Shanmugapriya Kalyana Mandapam, Thiruvaiyaru. According to the defacto complainant, the accused 1 to 3 are residing in London and that the first accused after living with her for 20 days in a rented house at Thiruvaiyaru went back to London promising her that he would take her to London after getting necessary Visa. Subsequently, she did not get any information from the first accused and when she contacted Manonmani (A2), Rabiyattu (A3) and Affideen (A4), they did not give her proper reply. Her further contention is that her marriage with the first accused was not registered and that till date she did not get any information from accused 1 to 3. According to her she has been cheated by all the accused.

3. The Inspector of Police, Thiruvaiyaru Police Station, Thanjavur District after receiving the complaint from the defacto complainant registered First Information in Crime No.169 of 2007 for the offences punishable under Section 420 of the Indian Penal Code and after concluding investigation laid a charge sheet against the accused 1 to 4 in CC.No.71 of 2015 on the file of the Judicial Magistrate, Thiruvaiyaru. Since the police did not produce the accused 1 to 3 before the Judicial Magistrate, Thiruvaiyaru, the learned Judicial Magistrate split up the case as against the accused 1 to 3 in CC.No.71 of 2015 and proceeded with the trial against the fourth accused, Affideen, S/o.Abdul Rahman Sahib in CC.No.36 of 2009. After concluding the trial, the learned Judicial Magistrate, acquitted the fourth accused on the ground that the defacto complainant did not adduce any evidence as to how the A4 cheated her and that A4 is the person who introduced A1 to A3 to her parents.

4. Now the present petitions are filed by A1 to A3 seeking to quash CC.No.71 of 2015 on the file of the Judicial Magistrate, Thiruvaiyaru.

5. Mr.M.Ramu, learned counsel appearing for the petitioners contended that the learned Judicial Magistrate, Thiruvaiyaru after examining all the witness has come to a definite conclusion that the defacto complainant did not adduce sufficient evidence to hold that A4 is guilty of offences punishable under Sections 420 and 493 of the Indian Penal Code and that the accused 1 to 3 did not commit any offence under Sections 420 and 493 of the Indian Penal Code. He also drew the attention of this Court to the Section 493 of the Indian Penal Code, which reads as under:

"Cohabitation caused by a man deceitfully inducing a belief of lawful marriage- Every man who by deceit causes any woman who is not lawfully married to him to believe that she is lawfully married to him and to cohabit or have sexual intercourse with him in that belief, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to ten years, and shall also be liable to fine."

His contention is that the plain reading of the Section would go to show that in order to constitute an offence under this Section, it has to be demonstrated that a man has deceitfully caused any woman, who is not lawfully married to him, to believe that she is lawfully married wife and thereby cohabit with him. His further contention is that the accused must induce a woman, not lawfully married to him, to believe that she is married to him and as a result of such misrepresentation, woman should believe that she was lawfully married to the man and thus there should be cohabitation or sexual intercourse. He also drew the attention of this Court to Section 420 of the Indian Penal Code and contended that no offence is made out against t