Picture used for representational purpose only

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A young couple, who were betrothed to each other, found themselves in a strange predicament on Tuesday after a fight between them blew out of proportion and the bride-to-be ended up filing a rape complaint against her fiancé.

This also led to the police arresting her 31-year-old fiance, slapping him with section 376 of IPC that pertains to rape. But soon, the police learned that the woman filed the complaint after her fiance ignored her repeated calls for a whole day.

The woman’s complaint was received at Thampanoor police station on Tuesday.

When the 27-year-old woman, accompanied by her lawyer, turned up before them with a complaint of rape against her fiancé, the officials of Thampanoor police did not think twice before taking the accused into custody immediately. They assumed that it may be like the numerous cases of cheating and sexual exploitation that they receive regularly. But, they soon learned that something was not right when the accused showed them a selfie of the couple on his phone that was taken only two nights ago after a dinner date. He also claimed that he still loved the complainant and was ready to marry her.

Apparently, the couple fought with each other over something following which the groom-to-be announced that he no longer wished to marry her. He went on to ignore the repeated calls from his fiancée for a whole day. It was following this, the young woman filed a complaint against him.

The police said that the complainant might have acted out of impulse as she later regretted her move.

“Both the accused and complainant are highly educated,” said Thampanoor station house officer inspector S Ajai Kumar. He said that the families of the accused and the complainant were unaware of the fight between them until the police registered a case based on the complaint received from the woman.

The accused and the complainant had got engaged in April this year and their marriage was scheduled to take place in December. Following the betrothal, the young couple regularly used to go out on dates and even consummated their relationship.

“We are duty-bound to register a case and take appropriate action against the accused when we get a complaint on a serious offence such as rape,” the inspector said.

After recording the arrest of the young man, the police summoned both families, who spoke with the woman. She has agreed to inform the court that she wished to withdraw her complaint when the police would produce her fiancé before the court on Wednesday.

