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Section495
The Indian Penal Code, 1860

Same offence with concealment of former marriage from person with whom subsequent marriage is contracted

Repealed From 01 Jan 1862 Act 45 of 1860 As on 15 Oct 2026

Act 45 of 1860 Ministry Home Affairs Enacted 06 Oct 1860 In force 01 Jan 1862 Cited by 10 provisions

This provision is repealed. Repealed by section 358 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (45 of 2023) with effect from 1 July 2024. It is reproduced because conduct before that date is still charged, tried and appealed under it.

Section 495 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 deals with same offence with concealment of former marriage from person with whom subsequent marriage is contracted. Whoever commits the offence defined in the last preceding section having concealed from the person with whom the subsequent marriage is contracted, the fact of the former marriage, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to ten years, and shall also be l The Act came into force on 01 Jan 1862. Repealed by section 358 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (45 of 2023) with effect from 1 July 2024, but conduct before that date is still charged, tried and appealed under it.

Whoever commits the offence defined in the last preceding section having concealed from the person with whom the subsequent marriage is contracted, the fact of the former marriage, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to ten years, and shall also be liable to fine.

Section 495, The Indian Penal Code, 1860 (Act 45 of 1860).

Now in the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita

BNS 82 Marrying again during lifetime of husband or wife Distant match 58%

Measured by comparing the text of the two provisions, not taken from an official correspondence table — there is no machine-readable one. See both texts side by side before relying on it.

Both regimes are live. The repealed enactment still governs what happened while it was in force. We never redirect one to the other.

Cross-references

Extracted from the operative text of the enactments themselves. Every destination below exists in our corpus.

Referred to by 10

  1. Code of Criminal Procedure s. 182 Offences committed by letters, etc
  2. Code of Criminal Procedure Act s. 182 Offences committed by letters, etc
  3. Code of Criminal Procedure s. 182 Offences committed by letters, etc
  4. Crpc 1973 s. 182 Offences committed by letters, etc
  5. Foreign Marriage Act s. 19 Punishment for bigamy
  6. Hindu Marriage Act s. 17 Punishment of bigamy
  7. Indian Evidence Act s. 50 Opinion on relationship, when relevant
  8. Parsi Marriage and Divorce Act s. 5 Punishment of bigamy
  9. Special Marriage Act s. 43 Penalty on married person marrying again under this Act
  10. Special Marriage Act s. 44 Punishment of bigamy

Related judgements & precedents

These are some judgments that construed this section, and hold precedence value. They hold authority on how to read, interpret and use this section.

  1. Poonam vs Pankaj Joshi

    High Court 20 Feb 2019 Persuasive (Other High Court)

    Court's Decision & Legal Precedent

    The summoning of an accused under Section 495 IPC is valid and cannot be quashed under Section 482 CrPC merely because the petitioner claims that the summoning was based on statements made in separate matrimonial proceedings, when the court's examination of the pre-summoning evidence and the summoning order itself reveals that the summoning was not solely based on such extraneous statements and no palpable error is discernible in the lower court's decision.

    On this section: Forgery charges under which the petitioner was summoned

    Read the full order on eCourts India

  2. Rajinder Tiwari vs The State (nct of Delhi )

    High Court 14 Dec 2006 Persuasive (Other High Court)

    Court's Decision & Legal Precedent

    Cognizance of offences under Chapter XX of IPC (Offences Against Marriage) can only be taken on basis of complaint by aggrieved person as mandated by Section 198 of Cr.P.C., not on basis of police report. Additionally, a person without valid marriage status cannot be prosecuted under Section 498-A IPC, as this section is specific to legally valid husbands and their relatives, as established by the binding Larger Bench precedent in Shivcharan Lal Verma v State of MP.

    On this section: Marrying again during lifetime of husband or wife by person knowing first marriage valid - falls under Chapter XX, requires complaint for cognizance

    Read the full order on eCourts India

  3. Vidhayaram vs State of Rajasthan through P P

    High Court 28 Mar 2017 Persuasive (Other HC)

    Court's Decision & Legal Precedent

    When the prosecution fails to effect any recovery from the accused and the complainant cannot identify the accused in an identification parade, the High Court may grant regular bail under Section 439 CrPC, as the weakness of the prosecution's evidence at the bail stage justifies release pending trial.

    On this section: Forgery; one of the charges against the petitioner

    Read the full order on eCourts India

The holding above is the ratio decidendi as extracted from the judgment by eCourts India, reproduced unaltered — it is a rendering of the court's reasoning, not a substitute for its words. Read the order itself before relying on it.

Questions about Section 495

What have the courts held on Section 495 of the Indian Penal Code?

Poonam vs Pankaj Joshi (20 Feb 2019) is the leading judgment on this section among those set out below: Forgery charges under which the petitioner was summoned. Another 2 judgments on this section are set out below. They run from 2006 to 2019.

How do I find court cases under Section 495 of the Indian Penal Code?

In judgments and charge sheets this section is written several ways, and each form finds a different set of orders. These search the full text of every order eCourtsIndia holds, best matches first: IPC 495, section 495 IPC, section 495 of the Indian Penal Code. People searching for it also type ipc 495 in bns and ipc 495 punishment. Each opens the full list of orders on eCourtsIndia, where it can be narrowed by court, year and outcome. 3 reported judgments on this section are set out on this page, beginning with Poonam vs Pankaj Joshi (20 Feb 2019).

What should I read with Section 495 of the Indian Penal Code, and has it changed?

10 other provisions in this corpus refer back to it. For anything done on or after 1 July 2024 the provision to read is BNS 82 (Marrying again during lifetime of husband or wife), which replaced it; conduct before that date is still charged, tried and appealed under this section.

When did Section 495 of the Indian Penal Code come into force?

Section 495 of the Indian Penal Code, cited as IPC 495, came into force on 01 Jan 1862, having been enacted on 06 Oct 1860. It is no longer in force.

Other sections of this Act

Source and method. Compiled from the enactments of Parliament and of the State legislatures as published on India Code, and republished together with commentary and other original matter under section 52(1)(q)(ii) of the Copyright Act, 1957. Structured, cross-referenced and maintained by eCourtsIndia. Recovered from the consolidated text published by India Code (item 7b7d4fe6-206b-4e33-81f1-b98b018acaf6). This page is not a substitute for legal advice.