Bombay HC: Consensual sex on promise of marriage is not rape

The court was hearing a plea filed by Kunal Mandaliya, seeking that charges of rape against him be quashed, since the complainant had been in a consensual relationship with him since 2010 and had alleged rape only after relations between them turned sour

Observing that when two consenting adults “consciously enter into a physical relationship, they are fully aware of the consequences and must bear the same,” the Bombay high court has discharged a man accused of rape by his former partner.

Justice Mridula Bhatkar of HC, who was presiding over the plea, however, observed that the complainant was an “adult,” an “educated” one at that, and was also a “working woman,” and thus, it could be assumed that she “was aware of the consequences of keeping sexual relations with a man

The court was hearing a plea filed by Kunal Mandaliya, seeking that charges of rape against him be quashed, since the complainant had been in a consensual relationship with him since 2010 and had alleged rape only after relations between them turned sour. The complainant on the other hand had argued that Mandaliya had proposed marriage to her in 2011 and on the pretext of marriage, had “forced her to have sexual relations with him.” However, two years later, he changed his mind and told her that he could not marry her, she said.

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It was then that she lodged a police complaint against Mandaliya, accusing him of cheating and rape. She also alleged that while she was with Mandaliya, he would often assault her, and asked her for money.

Justice Mridula Bhatkar of HC, who was presiding over the plea, however, observed that the complainant was an “adult,” an “educated” one at that, and was also a “working woman,” and thus, it could be assumed that she “was aware of the consequences of keeping sexual relations with a man.”

Justice Bhatkar also said the complainant must also have been aware of the fact that often, there creep up “differences between two people in a relationship and that despite having promised marriage, they can fail to overcome such differences and chose to part ways.”

“The victim is highly educated and therefore consent for physical relations cannot be said to have been obtained by fraud. Having such a relationship is a matter of choice for adults and it is possible that two persons in a relationship can develop compatibility issues,” she said, while discharging Mandaliya of the charge of rape.

Justice Bhatkar, however, refused to quash the charges of cheating, criminal intimidation, and assault against him.

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