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‘Married woman can’t claim false promise of marriage to allege rape’

JABALPUR/BHOPAL: The Jabalpur bench of the Madhya Pradesh high court has quashed an FIR accusing a 24-year-old man of rape, saying that the complainant cannot claim her consent for a physical relationship was taken on the pretext of marriage if she was already married to another man.

The accused, who is also married to another woman, moved the high court last year after the woman (complainant) accused him of rape. The woman was married to a driver and has two children. She alleged that the accused, who is her neighbour, promised to marry her after divorcing his wife and the two were in a relationship for three months. However, he allegedly later declined to marry her, stating that he was not in a position to divorce his own wife. The single bench of justice Maninder S Bhati said that from the reading of the FIR there is “no allegation” that the accused pressurised the complainant for a relationship under the guise of false promise of marriage.

Promise to Marry Rape Case

“Moreover, if the FIR is perused carefully and subjected to microscopic scrutiny it would reveal that there are no allegations that the present applicant pressurized the prosecutrix to enter into wedlock under the garb of false promise of marriage,” the court said.

“The aforesaid judgments of the Apex Court as well as this Court postulate that when the prosecutrix is a married lady, and therefore, her consent for physical relationship on the garb of false promise of marriage cannot be brought within the framework of the consent obtained on the basis of ‘misconception of the fact.” It said in such cases, “FIR is required to be nipped in the bud, as the same would entail in a long trial whereas the allegations levelled in FIR on their face value, do not indi-cate the commission of offence under the aforesaid sections.”

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