Lodging of a case under rape laws cannot be used as a tool to get a marriage promise fulfilled, a Delhi court has said while acquitting a man of the charges of raping a widow who was in a live-in relationship with him.

The court said the woman has not been able to give any reason as to why she chose to move in and live with the man without tying the knot even though there was no impediment in their marriage at the time of inception of their relationship.

"The accused and the woman lived together for a long period of time, that is for about an year. In such circumstances, possibility of accused changing his mind cannot be ruled out. There may be circumstances which could not have been foreseen or which may have developed subsequently and which caused the accused to walk out of the relationship. Prosecution under section 376 (punishment for rape) of the IPC is not a mode for enforcement of promise for marriage. In any event, there is no evidence brought on record to show that the accused had no intention to marry the woman from the very beginning," Additional Sessions Judge Sarita Birbal said.

The court said a woman may agree to sexual intercourse on account of her love and passion for the accused.

The Delhi resident was acquitted of charges of repeatedly raping a woman, wrongful confinement and criminal intimidation of the IPC.

The court said the woman was living with the man of her own volition and the prosecution has not been able to prove that he had threatened to kill her if she disclosed the incidents to any person or that she was illegally confined by the accused at his rented room.

The woman had lodged an FIR with the police in August 2013, alleging that she along with her two children had come to Delhi for job and started working in a factory where the accused was also working. He took her to his rented house in 2012 and raped her and also threatened to kill her if she disclosed it to anybody, she had told the police. She added that the man kept her confined in his house for a year and repeatedly raped her and then vacated the room and took all his articles.

The woman then approached the police seeking action against the man. During the trial, the man claimed in the court that the woman had established physical relations with him of her free will. Neither did he promise to marry her, nor did he threaten to kill her, he claimed.

The court, in its judgement, said the woman in her deposition has not stated that the accused had no intention to fulfil his promise of marriage or that she felt any time that the alleged promise at the very inception was not true. The court also held that the woman's statements relating to the circumstances in which the man started having physical relations with her were not consistent.