india

Updated: Aug 25, 2017 17:02 IST

A man, accused of raping a woman on the pretext of marriage, has been acquitted by a Delhi court which said she was an educated and independent person and was aware that she was entering into consensual physical relations.

The court said that even if the woman had entered into sexual relations with the accused with her consent “on the pretext of marriage”, it will not fall in the category of the offence of rape.

The court acquitted the man, a resident of west Delhi, saying the prosecution could not prove that on December 8, 2013, he had administered tea laced with sedatives to the woman and raped her at their common friend’s house where he had taken her to celebrate her birthday.

It said it has not been proved that the man continued to rape the woman from February to April 2014 on the false promise of marriage, got her foetus aborted and threatened to post her objectionable pictures on the internet.

“I am of the opinion that prosecutrix in the present case, is an educated girl. She was also an independent, working girl, thoroughly aware of the fact that she is entering into physical relations with the accused with her own consent and it should have been known to the prosecutrix as well as accused that even if they both wanted to get married, there may be circumstances in future because of which promise of marriage may not be successful,” Additional Sessions Judge Shail Jain said.

The court said it was to be believed that the woman and the man both being adult, educated and independent, have entered into physical relations knowing all the possibilities of the outcome of such relations and it was not the case of the prosecution that she was forced to have sexual relations with the man.

“Thus, it is clear that even if the prosecutrix has entered into sexual relations with the accused on her own consent ‘on the pretext of marriage’, it will not fall within the category of offence of rape. Therefore, I am of the opinion that prosecution has not been able to prove its case against accused beyond reasonable doubt,” the judge said.

The prosecution alleged that the man had assured her of marriage and continued establishing physical relations, but when he started avoiding her, she lodged a complaint at the Rajouri Garden police station in West Delhi.

During the trial, the man denied the allegations against him and claimed that he was falsely implicated in the case.