Thane Court Grants Anticipatory Bail To Rape Accused | “No One Can Be Forced To Marry Only Because Of Sexual Relationship”

A Thane Sessions Court has granted anticipatory bail to a man who was accused of rape on false promise of marriage by his ex-girlfriend. The court observed,

Considering the facts of the case, it comes to my knowledge that Applicant No.1 had an affair with the informant, they indulged in sexual relationship and for some reason their relation ended into a breakup. They undoubtedly had consensual relationship with each other.

The informant is major and graduated and therefore, it is expected that she was fully aware of the consequences of having sexual intercourse with the applicant No.1 before marriage. Informant states accused made a false promise of marriage to her and thus obtained her consent by fraud. The informant was in relationship with the applicant for a considerable period of time. Thus, in such circumstances, promise to marry cannot be said to be an inducement to obtain the consent by fraud.

Interestingly this woman not only filed a rape case on false promise of marriage on the man but has also dragged him and his family to police station wrongly claiming that the man had married her and then subjected her to cruelty. It is to be noted that in her complaint she did not give any instance of assault but made a general statement that all the accused treated her with cruelty and a family friend of the man abused her over phone.

Case:

The complaint woman lodged a case against accused No.1 (man out on bail) whom she claimed to have married in January 2021. The accused No. 2 was the alleged father-­in-­law of woman and accused No. 3 was a family friend of accused No.1. The woman alleged that after her marriage, she resided with accused No.1 and his parents for two months and she was subjected to cruelty so as to meet their unlawful demand.

Accordingly, a FIR was registered against the accused persons for offences punishable under:

• Section 498­A
• Section 323
• Section 504
• Section 506 read with Section 34

…of the IPC

Woman Denied Marriage After A Month

A month later, the applicant woman gave a supplementary statement to the IO, claiming that the accused no.1 never married her and he had breached his promise on the pretext of which, she had consented to have sexual intercourse with him. Accordingly, the Police then added:

• Section 376
• Section 377
• Section 313

…of IPC to the FIR.

Thane Sessions Court

The court noted that from April­ 2019 until registration of FIR, the woman visited several places with the accused No.1 and also resided with him. Even after registration of FIR she resided with the applicant No.1 in various hotels in Thane in Maharashtra for some days.

Considering all these facts on record, the Court was of the opinion that the accused No.1 had an affair with the informant, they indulged in sexual relationship and for some reason their relation ended into a breakup. Thus, the court emphasised that undoubtedly they had consensual sexual relationship with each other.

Apprehending arrest in the backdrop of above allegations, the accused had approached the Court under section 438 CrPC, seeking anticipatory bail.

MDO Exclusive

Advocate for the accused, Aniket Gawand, while speaking to MDO said,

Thane Police registered a case of 498A, 506, 509, 323 on this man and his parents and an acquaintance too without verifying if there has been any marriage between the parties or not. My client and the woman never got married. She has been pressurising him for marriage and my client was threatened by the police that if he doesn’t marry the woman, he will be booked in a rape case.

After one month of registering a 498A complaint, she then filed a rape and unnatural sex case against my client. Police then filed 376, 377, 313 cases on him. We are thankful to the Judge who has granted anticipatory bail to the man and his parents looking at the facts of the case.

Speaking on conditions of anonymity, the accused man in this case shared,

There was no promise of marriage. We were in a consensual relationship and I have several proofs to prove the same. I was threatened by the police officers to marry her or else they will book me in a rape case. She filed a rape case one month after filing 498A on me and my family because I did not agree to marry her under pressure.

She created ruckus outside the place where I lived, insulting me in front of entire society. I had to leave that house. She got to know of the place where I moved and she created a scene there too. She also took several people to my cousin sisters’ home to intimidate us.

Adding further, the accused also shared,

Once, she also demanded Rs 20 lakh from me saying she will not file any case if I give her the money. But I have decided that I will fight this case and not bow down to the threats. She claimed I made her abort twice and police added those charges. But when she was asked to produce any evidence regarding the same, she failed to do so. I have been harassed but the police are not ready to listen to me. Even now she is going and meeting senior police officers asking them to force me to get married to her. How fair is this?

MDO Take:

Rape on False Promise of Marriage cases have mushroomed across the country. Even the courts are unsure of what constitutes a crime in these cases. Mere statement that the accused promised marriage to the woman is taken as sufficient grounds to arrest the accused and put him behind bars for months whether there was any promise of marriage or not. These cases are usually where the accused and the complainant have been in affair for long and case lodged after a breakup. Off the record, there have been several cases where men have been forced to get married to a woman merely because they were in relationship, lest he is accused of rape by the woman.

In such a scenario, this judgment by Additional Sessions Judge P M Gupta, Thane Court, is important as it is based on rational and facts holding an adult woman accountable for her choice. It also keeps morality aside, something that we are often seeing Judges resorting to, while dealing with criminal matters where allegations of rape on promise of marriage have been levelled.

Emphasising that the case looks to be borne out of refusal of the man to marry, the judge also observed,

It appears that the applicant refused to marry with the informant therefore she lodged a report with police against him. To marry someone is a matter of choice and cannot be imposed on anybody. Only because two individuals are sexually involved with each other, it is not compulsory for them to marry. Nobody can compel two persons to marry only because they had sexual relationship.

EXCERPTS FROM ORDER –

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