Seven-year ordeal ends: Navi Mumbai man cleared of rape, cheating charges

A Mumbai court acquitted a man accused of rape and cheating after ruling their relationship was consensual, citing insufficient evidence.

Mumbai: After a seven-year legal battle, the Belapur court acquitted a 28-year-old man who was accused in 2018 of allegedly raping and cheating on a woman under a promise to marry her. On Saturday, the court ruled that the couple’s relationship had been consensual and the evidence was insufficient to convict him.

Seven-year ordeal ends: Navi Mumbai man cleared of rape, cheating charges

Additional sessions judge Makarand R Mandawgade acquitted the man, a resident of Navi Mumbai, who had been accused under sections 376(2) (repeated rape), and 417(cheating) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The accused was arrested in May 2018, and had been out on bail since June 2018.

According to the prosecution, the complainant worked with the accused at a garment company in Bhiwandi, in 2015. The duo were in a physically intimate relationship from September 2015 to December 2017, and the complainant told the police that during that period the accused had sexual relations with her after promising to marry her. When he refused to marry her, the woman filed a complaint in May 2018.

The court rejected the woman’s claims and held that the evidence did not support the allegation of ‘coercion’. “The intimate relations between her and the accused were spread over years and were not a one-time incident. They cannot be construed as an offence of rape,” said Mandawgade.

The court added that the accused’s refusal to marry the woman could not be interpreted as proof of fraudulent intent from the beginning. The judgement read, “Differences in religion and age, where the complainant was older than the accused, offer reasonable explanation as to why the marriage did not materialise.”

Defence lawyer advocate Mohammad Shine welcomed the order, calling it a long-overdue relief for his client. “This case shows how consensual relationships can sometimes be misrepresented as criminal acts. For seven years, my client lived under the stigma of serious charges. Justice has prevailed,” Shine told HT.