Woman Cannot Claim Rape If Relationship Failed To Culminate To Marriage: Mumbai HC

The Mumbai High Court discharged a man who was accused of rape by his ex-partner. The court observed that the man could not be blamed just because the woman with whom he was in a relationship alleged that he had raped her after their relationship turned sour and did not culminate in marriage.

The single-judge bench of Justice Bharti Dangre was hearing a criminal revision application filed by the man. An FIR was registered against him in 2016 at the Versova police station in Mumbai. The man had filed a discharge application when the case went to trial, but it was rejected by the Dindoshi Sessions Court.

Justice Dangre studied the facts of the case and said that when two adults come together and invest in a relationship, one cannot be blamed solely because the other complained of the act at some point in time after the relationship didn’t go well and for whatever reason could not culminate in a marriage.

Rape Complaint Over Failed Relationship

The woman who filed the complaint said that she had met him through the social media site Orkut and had fallen in love with him. The duo had been in a relationship for eight years. The woman said that both families were aware of their relationship. However, she claimed that on the pretext of marriage, the man had established a sexual relationship with her but then refused to marry her.

The court observed that the woman was an adult when she committed to the relationship. She was at an age where she is presumed to have the maturity to understand the consequences of her act. The woman herself had admitted that on some occasions the relationship was consensual, but sometimes it was forced.

According to the woman’s complaint, she had stated that the man's promise to marry her wasn’t the only reason for her indulging in a sexual relationship with him; she had stated that she was in love with him.

Justice Dangre noted that the woman was clearly conscious of the effects of indulging in a sexual relationship with the man. The relationship had continued for a considerable amount of time, which does not lead to the conclusion that a sexual relationship between the duo was established every time only on the promise of marriage.

The duo had even resided together for a while before separating. The only bald statement of the complainant is that the man had refused to marry her.

Justice Dangre reasoned that since the woman is a mature adult who was in a consensual relationship both physically and mentally, it cannot be inferred that the physical relationship happened against her will and without her consent merely because the relationship has now turned sour.

The woman in this case seems to be unable to accept the fact that the man broke off their relationship and refused to marry her. Rape is a serious offence, and one cannot simply claim to have been forced into a sexual relationship just because the relationship didn’t culminate in marriage. It is unfair to the real survivors and trivialises the gravity of true sexual offences.

Suggested Reading: False Rape Allegations: How It Can Ruin Lives And Affect Real Cases