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IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION
CRIMINAL APPEAL NO. OF 2024 (@ SLP(CRL.) No.6546/2024)
M S SAMPATH KUMAR & ANR. APPELLANT(S)
VERSUS
THE STATE OF KARNATAKA & ORS. RESPONDENT(S)
O R D E R
1. Leave granted.
2. Heard learned senior counsel appearing for the appellants,
and learned counsel appearing for the respondent Nos.1 and
2.
3. Despite notice being served, no one appears for the
respondent No.3.
4. Learned counsel appearing for the appellants submitted
that originally the appellants had been implicated for the
offence punishable under Sections 406, 420, 504, 506 read
with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (for short,
‘the IPC’) and Section 66D of the Information Technology
Act, 2008. It is only thereafter that the respondent No.3
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has chosen to give another complaint after a period of two
months, pursuant to which the charges have been altered to
those punishable under Section 376 IPC.
5. Learned senior counsel appearing for the appellants has
placed reliance upon the communication between the parties
and submitted that what the appellant No.1 has
communicated to respondent No.3 is that he would complete
the divorce proceedings and thereafter marry her.
Therefore, the factum of existence of first marriage has
not been denied.
6. Merely, because the relationship between the parties has...