Bombay HC quashes rape case against 79-year-old man lodged by longtime lover

Bombay HC strikes down rape case against 79-year-old Powai resident filed by former employee, citing consensual relationship and no breach of promise or cheating.

MUMBAI: The Bombay high court on Wednesday struck down a rape case against a 79-year-old Powai resident that was lodged by one of his former employees with whom he was romantically involved for over 30 years.

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“This is a classic case of [a] relationship between the parties turning sour and, thereafter, the complainant lodging a police complaint,” the division bench of justice AS Gadkari and justice Neela Gokhale said while striking down the complaint against the retired businessman.

In August 2018, the woman had lodged a complaint at the Powai police station alleging that the man, her employer, had raped her under a false promise of marriage. The police had filed an FIR against the man under Sections 376 (rape), 420 (cheating) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code.

In her complaint, the woman stated that after passing Class 12, she took up a job in a firm run by the accused. In July 1987, the accused called her to the office on a holiday to prepare some bills for audit and then raped her while gagging her mouth, she alleged.

The woman claimed the accused threatened to defame her if she spoke about the incident and that she did not file a complaint because she was scared to lose her job. She added that the accused raped her several times after that, taking her to various hotels in Kalyan, Bhiwandi and other places. Eventually, in August 1993, he gave her a mangalsutra and declared her his second wife.

In September 2017, the woman had to take leave due to a family emergency. After she returned to work, she found the firm closed. When she tried reaching out to the accused, he refused to marry her and also did not hand over the ownership documents of his medical shop in Mulund, where she was a partner, the woman said. That’s when she approached the police.

Soon after the FIR was registered, the retired businessman approached the high court in 2018 to quash the criminal case, contending that it was a consensual relationship. He also said there was no breach of promise to marry her or cheating, adding that the woman had filed a police complaint only because the relationship had soured.

The high court accepted the arguments advanced on behalf of the 79-year-old and struck down the criminal case. “The contents of the FIR clearly indicate a consensual relationship. The parties were indulging in [a] sexual relationship for years, and the complainant has never breathed a word about her alleged objection to the relationship. She has willingly and knowingly participated in the relationship with the applicant,” said the bench.

The woman’s contention that she gave in to the sexual abuse to keep her job “cannot be believed since in the past so many years, it was possible for her to seek other employment opportunities,” the judges said. It was only when the firm shut down and the accused refused to hand over the ownership documents of their medical shop that she lodged the police complaint, they added.