HC strikes down rape case against ex-boyfriend after woman’s marriage failed

Bombay High Court strikes down rape case against Pune resident who refused to marry his ex-girlfriend after her marriage with someone else failed.

MUMBAI: The Bombay high court recently struck down a rape case registered against a Pune resident as he refused to marry his ex-girlfriend after her marriage with someone else did not work out.

HT Image

A division bench of justice Anuja Prabhudessai and justice NR Borkar noticed that there was no element of inducement in the relationship, and facts disclosed by the woman did not disclose that the promise of marriage was false from the inception and that the accused had a sexual relationship only because of the promise of marriage. “The allegations in the FIR belie the case that the consent was vitiated by misconception of fact,” the court said while striking down the criminal proceeding.

In 2021, the accused and the complainant were working together in Pune. Soon, their acquaintance turned into an affair, and the two started engaging in a physical relationship intermittently. There were talks about marriage between them, but the man’s family was opposed to the relationship, and the accused had informed the fact of the woman.

After the marriage was annulled, on October 11, 2022, the woman again established contact with the accused and started pursuing him for marriage and approached the police after he started avoiding her. In the FIR registered on January 12, 2023, the woman alleged that the accused sexually exploited her with a false promise of marriage, and based on her claim, the police booked the accused under sections 376 (rape), 376(2)(n) (raping the same woman repeatedly) of the Indian Penal Code.

High court struck down the criminal case after noticing that the woman continued to engage in physical relationships even after the accused informed her that his parents were opposed to their marriage, and her parents fixed her marriage with some other person.

“This fact indicates that the promise to marry had no direct nexus with her decision to engage in a sexual relationship with the petitioner (accused),” said the bench. “The allegations on the face of the FIR do not constitute rape within the meaning of Section 375 of the Indian Penal Code,”

“In such circumstances, continuance of criminal proceedings will result in abuse of process of the Court,” it added.

Box:

POCSO case struck down as accused marries complainant

The same bench on Thursday also struck down a POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012) case registered against another Pune district resident, registered in March 2019 with the Hadapsar police station after the minor girl was found pregnant.

The high court struck down the criminal proceedings after noticing that the accused and the complainant had married after the complainant attained majority and were living together as a married couple with their child. The judges said they are conscious of the fact that the offence of rape concerning a minor girl was serious and consent in such cases, either for engaging in a sexual relationship or for quashing the proceedings, had no legal sanctity. However, the bench said that if convicted, the accused faces a minimum of 20 years’ imprisonment, and it would disturb the complainant’s family life completely. “Furthermore, continuance of proceedings will also have a negative impact and lasting deleterious consequences on the child,” the judges said and struck down the POCSO case.