READ ORDER | Man Refusing To Marry After Consensual Affair Cannot Be Charged With Rape: Bombay HC

Case:

According to the 30-year-old woman’s complaint in the case, the two had physical relations. As reported by Hindustan Times, the woman said that her boyfriend on multiple occasions promised to marry her. She further said her relatives approached the man with a marriage proposal but were asked to wait due to the COVID pandemic.

However, last year the woman’s family subsequently registered charges of rape against the 33-year-old, for allegedly exploiting the complainant physically and mentally under the false promise of marriage.

The accused man moved the high court for quashing the case, contending that the physical relationship was consensual. He said his subsequent refusal to marry the woman was no ground for the rape charge.

The prosecution maintained the woman’s consent was obtained under the false promise of marriage and since the beginning, the applicant had no intention to marry her.

Bombay High Court

The Bombay high court accepted the stand of the accused. The bench remarked,

The statements of the woman’s relatives showed the man intended to marry her. However, later he changed his mind. Considering these aspects, it cannot be said that the applicant had given a false promise of marriage to the victim and obtained her consent for establishing physical relations. It appears that the consensual physical relations were the outcome of their love affair.

MDO Take:

• Time and again we have voiced our concern over registration of such rape cases
• All these numbers are accounted as rapes under NCRB report of Crimes Against Women, which then paints India as the alleged ‘rape capital’ of the world
• What is more important is the label of rapist a common man faces – because he merely happened to change his mind for marriage after a consensual affair
• Is there any punishment or IPC for women who date men for years and then back out from marriage?
• While globally countries progress with their laws, make amendments from time to time, India and all its governments at the centre have only created laws, largely based on knee jerk outrage from public, stemming from individual cases
• There is no review of such anti men laws, and no government wants to get into the red zone of amending or passing any law which may seem gender neutral (read: not completely lopsided in favour of women)
• We are only ruining futures of common men, who have to run pillar to post to get bail – these are people who have never seen a police station or courts and have no clue how they can be labelled as criminals with mere complaint by their ex-girlfriends