 bill no 116 of  2015 the prohibition of interference with the freedom of matrimonial alliances in the name of honour and tradition bill, 2015 by shri rabindra kumar jena, mp a billto provide for, in the interests of protecting individual liberty and  preventing victimisation, prohibition of unlawful assemblies and other conduct interfering with the freedom of matrimonial alliances in the name of honour and tradition and for matters connected therewith or incidental theretobe it enacted by parliament in the sixty-sixth year of the republic of india as follows:— 1 (1) this act may be called the prohibiton of interference with the freedom of matrimonial alliances in the name of honour and tradition and act, 2015short title, extent and commencement(2) it extends to the whole of india except the state of jammu and kashmir(3) it shall come into force on such date as the central government may, by notificationin the official gazette, appoint:provided that different dates may be appointed for different states2 (1) for the removal of doubts, it is hereby declared that every person shall have a right to marry or stay with a person of his choicedeclaration as to rights of persons(2) any violation of the right referred to in sub-section (1) by any person or a group of persons shall be an offence under this act5(3) no person or any group of persons shall gather, assemble or congregate at any time with the view or intention of condemning any marriage, not prohibited by law, on the basis that such marriage has dishonoured the caste or community tradition or brought disrepute to all or any of the person forming part of the assembly or the family or the people of the locality concerned10(4) such gathering or assembly or congregation shall be treated as unlawful and every person convening or organizing such assembly and every member thereof participating therein, directly or indirectly, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term of not less than six months but which may extend to one year and shall also be liable to fine which may extend upto ten thousand rupeesexplanation—in this section, the expression—15(i)  'marriage' shall include a proposed or intended marriage; and (ii) 'gather', 'assemble' or 'congregate' shall include acting in concert through the use of any technological means or mediums20intent to cause endangerment of liberty253(1) the members of unlawful assembly referred in section 2, who, individually or collectively, counsel, exhort or bring pressure, openly or  otherwise, upon any person or persons to prevent or disapprove the marriage, which is objected to by the said members, or to generate an environment of hostility towards the married couple or a couple who intends to marry or either of them or their relatives or supporters shall be deemed to have acted in endangerment of their liberty and such an act of endangerment shall be punished with imprisonment for a period of not less than one year but which may extend upto two years and shall also be liable to fine which may extend upto twenty thousand rupees30(2) any person, other than the members of unlawful assembly, who endangers the liberty under sub-section (1) at the instance of any member of unlawful assembly or otherwise shall be punished with imprisonment for a period of not less than one year but which may extend upto two years and shall also be liable to fine which may extend upto twenty thousand rupeesexplanation—in this section, the expression 'endangerment of liberty' shall include the acts calculated to lead to social boycott or enforcement of social sanctions and in particular the following acts,—35(i) bringing to bear pressure on the couple or their family or relatives to leave thevillage or area of residence concerned;(ii) indulging in any conduct which impedes or is likely to impede, access tomarkets, community facilities, places of worship or any other necessities of life or which imposes any social or economic sanction or social boycott on the couple or their family or anyone associated with them;40(iii) divesting or dispossessing the couple or their family of any land or propertybelonging to them;(iv) declaring the couple, who have married or intend to lawfully marry, a brotherand sister, provided that they are not children from the same natural parent and such marriages are reorganised by any law or custom for the time being in force;45(v) asking the couple who have married or intend to lawfully marry, or anyoneassociated with them or harbouring them to pay a fine;(vi) causing harm or injury to the couple or either of them or their families oranyone connected with them for harbouring them; and(vii) any other act of harassment whether physical or mental51045 of 1860(3) if any person or a group of persons, who is or are members of the family of thecouple, who has married or intends to marry, or a person or persons acting in concert with, or, at the behest of, a member of the family or a member of unlawful assembly, kills a woman of the who has married or intends to marry, or kills the person whom the woman has married or intends to marry or kills any person associating with couple or causes grievous hurt or any form of injury or persecutes the couple or either of them for exercising the rights referred to in section 2, or abets, participates or incites such an act of killing or causing grievous hurt or any form of injury or persecution, shall be guilty of an offence of murder under the indian penal code, 1860criminal intimidation154 any member or members of an unlawful assembly or any other person acting at theirinstance or otherwise who, indulges in criminal intimidation of the couple or either of them or their relatives or supporters shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than one year but may extend to three years and be liable to fineexplanation—the expression 'criminal intimidation' includes repeated harassment of the couple or either of them with a view to pressurising them not to meet or associate with each other or live with each other or threatening the couple or either of them or their family or anyone associated with them of retributive action of any kind whatsoever205 the provisions of this act shall be in addition to and not in derogation of any other law for the time being in forceprovisions of this act not in derogation of any other law burden of proof6 where any person is prosecuted for an offence under this act, the burden of proving that he has not committed the offence shall be on the person being prosecuted25| 7                                                                                          ||---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|| or information from any person or persons seeking protection from any assembly of persons   || or from members of any family who are objecting or likely to object to any lawful marriage || power to                                                                                    || prohibit                                                                                    || certain acts                                                                                || and authority                                                                               || to take                                                                                     || preventive                                                                                  || measures                                                                                   |30(2) where the district magistrate or sub-divisional magistrate receives informationfrom any source that there is a likelihood of convening of an assembly openly or in secrecy to condemn as objectionable any marriage, proposed or solemnized, he shall, by order prohibit the convening of such assembly and doing of any act towards the commission of any offence under this act by any person in any area specified in the order35(3) the district magistrate or sub-divisional magistrate may take such steps as may be necessary to give effect to such order including giving appropriate directions to the police authorities concerned(4) the district magistrate or sub-divisional magistrate shall also take such steps as may be necessary to ensure the safety of the persons targeted pursuant to the illegal decision taken by the unlawful assembly40(5) any two persons who intend to marry or associate with each other may declaretheir age and willingness to marry or associate, orally or in writing, before any government official, who shall, on receipt of such information, inform the nearest police station(6) the district magistrate or the sub-divisional magistrate shall be in direct supervision of the protection and safety of the persons concerned45(7) every village officer and such other officers as may be designated by the districtmagistrate in relation to any area shall, if he has reason to believe or has the knowledge that any of the offences under this act are likely to be or have been committed in the area, report such fact to the nearest police station(8) every official called upon to act in terms of the above provisions shall be accountable for their lapses, omissions or failures and the state government shall provide for and take such action against them as may be deemed fit for their lapses, omissions or failures to act2 of 1974trial of offences58 (1) notwithstanding anything contained in the code of criminal procedure, 1973, alloffences under this act shall be triable by a court of sessions presided over by the district and session judge or any other sessions court presided over by a session judge or an additional sessions judge in the district concerned, as may be specified by the high court by notification10(2) the court of sessions so notified may take cognizance of any offence without theaccused being committed to it for trial upon receiving a complaint of facts which constitutes such offence, or upon a police report of such facts2 of 19749 (1) when trying any offence under this act, the notified court of sessions may alsotry any other offence with which the accused may, under the code of criminal procedure, 1973, be charged at the same trial if the offence is connected with such other offencepower of special court with respect to other offences15(2) if, in the course of any trial of any offence under this act, it is found that accusedperson has committed any other offence under this act or any other law, the notified court may convict such person also of such other offence and pass appropriate sentence authorized by that law2 of 19742010 notwithstanding anything contained in the code of criminal procedure, 1973, all offences under this act shall be cognizable, non- bailable and non-compoundableoffences to be cognizable, non-bailable and noncompoundable power to make rules11 (1) the central government may, by notification in the official gazette, make rules for carrying out the purposes of this act25(2) every rule made under this act shall be laid, as soon as may be after it is made, before each house of parliament, while it is in session, for a total period of thirty days, which may be comprised in one session or in two or more successive sessions, and if, before the expiry of the session immediately following the session or the successive sessions aforesaid, both houses agree in making any modification in the rule or both houses agree that the rule should not be made, the rule shall thereafter have effect only in such modified form or be of no effect, as the case may be; so, however, that any such modification or annulment shall be without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done under that rule30 statement of objects and reasonsthere has been an increase number of crimes being incited by and committed by certain groups of persons or certain individuals, in order to interfere with otherwise completely lawful matrimonial alliances, in the name of protecting honour and tradition these groups or individuals often target 'sagotra', inter-caste and inter-religious alliances between consenting adults as a part of their prejudiced agenda there alliances are completely legal under various indian laws such as the hindu marriage disabilities removal act, 1946 and the special marriage act, 1954 however, such acts of mental and physical violence are also in direct violation of certain fundamental rights of citizens enshrined in the constitution, such as the right to life and liberty which includes the right to bodily integrity, and the right to choose whom to marry or associate withthe general provisions of the indian penal code, 1860 are invoked to book offenders in honour killing cases which do not cover the entire gamut of illegal and criminal actions perpetrated in the name of honour and traditionin august 2010, the national commission for women suggested a draft legislation to amend section 300 of the indian penal code, 1860 with a view to include honour killing as gruesome offencethe law commission of india in its report no 242 has recommended legal measures to nip the evil in the bud by preventing assemblies which take place to condemn such alliances and to prescribe moiré severe punishment for violent acts of criminal intimidation or acts imperilling the liberty of individual in the name of honour and traditionthe increase in number of such crimes has been a matter of grave concern for the society and requires to be addressed urgentlythe bill, therefore, seeks to provide for protecting individual liberty and preventing victimisation, prohibition of unlawful assemblies and other conduct interfering with the freedom of matrimonial alliances in the name of honour and traditionnew delhi ;rabindra kumar jenafebruary 23, 2015———— a billto provide for, in the interests of protecting individual liberty and  preventing victimisation, prohibition of unlawful assemblies and other conduct interfering with the freedom of matrimonial alliances in the name of honour and tradition and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto————(shri rabindra kumar jena, mp)