Story- A soldier promised to marry a women in Hisar and allegedly raped her. The parties had connected with each other via a matrimonial site. The accused used to call her to hotels and he became physically intimate with her on the promise to marry. The woman when found out that the accused was marrying another woman approached the police. The accused on learning about the police complaint assured the woman to marry her in a temple in Hisar. When the woman reached the temple the accused refused to marry her. The woman has registered a case in the matter under section 376, 506 and 120 B of the Indian Penal Code.

Promise to Marry Rape Cases Legal Advice
Promise to Marry Rape Cases Legal Advice

Section 375 of IPC defines the offence of rape. The essential ingredients for the commission of the offence of rape are:

  1. Against her will.
  2. Without her consent.
  3. With her consent, when the man knows that he is not her husband, and that her consent is given because she believes that he is another man to whom she is or believes herself to be lawfully married.
  4. With her consent, when, at the time of giving such consent, by reason of unsoundness of mind or intoxication or the administration by him personally or through another of any stupefying or unwholesome substance, she is unable to understand the nature and consequences of that to which she gives consent.
  5. With or without her consent, when she is under sixteen years of age.

Under sec 375 of IPC where the consent is obtained and the woman is unable to understand the nature and consequences of her consent then it amounts to rape.

Section 420 of IPC states the offence of cheating. Essential elements of section 420 are:

  1. Dishonest inducement to deliver property or to make, alter or destroy any valuable security or anything which is sealed or is capable of being converted into a valuable security.
  2. Mensrea of the accused at the time of making the inducement.

In order to prove the offence of cheating it is essential to prove that the accused had fraudulent or dishonest intention at the time of making the promise to hold a person guilty for the offence of cheating.

CASELAWS

Anurag Soni v. State of Chhattisgarh

The man had engaged in a physical relationship with  a woman at his home on the promise of marrying her. At the time of the crime, he was already engaged to marry another woman. He later broke his promise to the victim.

On the basis of an FIR filed, the man was convicted of rape. The conviction was confirmed by the High Court. He was sentenced to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment. The apex court was appealed to.

Rajiv Patil v State of Maharashtra

held that every breach of promise to marry cannot amount to rape.

PramodSuryabhanPawar v. State of Maharashtra

A division bench of the Supreme Court, comprising Justice D.Y. Chandrachud and Indira Banerjee, clarified that there is a distinction between promises made in good faith and false promises made solely with the purpose of breaking them: “Where the promise to marry is false and the intention of the maker at the time of making the promise itself was not to abide by it but to deceive the woman to convince her to engage in sexual relations, there is a ‘misconception of fact’ that vitiates the ‘consent’.

Pradeep Kumar Verma v. State of Bihar

held that in case of a representation deliberately made by the accused with a view to eliciting the assent of the victim without having intention to marry her, will vitiate the consent given by the victim. the consent ostensibly given by the victim will be of no avail to the accused to exculpate him from the ambit of Section 375 clause second. Such representation would only vitiate the consent.

  • In the above story the woman agreed to engage in physical intimacy on the pretext of marriage.
  • The accused had promised to marry the victim while planned on marrying another woman.
  • The consent to sexual relations was obtained based on a false promise.
  • Where a false representation is made and the accused has a wrongful intention it amounts to cheating.
  • Where the consent is obtained and the woman is unable to understand the nature and consequences of her consent then it amounts to rape.
  • Thus it largely depends on the conditions and circumstances under which the consent was received or assumed to have been given to constitute an offence of rape.

Rest, the fate of the case entirely depends upon the facts of case which varies for individuals.

For case specific advice, one can connect with top/best/expert Criminal Lawyer of Chandigarh Panchkula Mohali taking cases of crimes against woman in Tricity.

This post is written by Soumya Mittal. For more info, please dial 99888-17966.