Prayagraj. The Allahabad High Court has said that adultery committed over a long period of time with mutual consent in which there is no element of fraud from the beginning does not fall in the category of rape. The court quashed the criminal case against an accused of raping a woman on the pretext of promising her marriage. The court also said that unless it is proved that such a false promise was made from the very beginning, consensual sexual intercourse with the promise of marriage does not amount to rape.
The court said, “Unless it is alleged that there was some element of fraud in making such promise on the part of the accused from the beginning of such relationship, it would not amount to a false promise of marriage.” Accepting the petition filed by a person named Shrey Gupta, Justice Anish Kumar Gupta quashed the criminal case pending in the Moradabad court. A case of rape was registered against the petitioner on the complaint of a woman.
In the FIR lodged at the women’s police station in Moradabad, the woman alleged that after the death of her husband, the petitioner had established physical relations with her on the pretext of marriage. The woman claimed that Gupta promised to marry her several times, but later broke the promise and came in contact with another woman. The complainant woman also alleged that Gupta had demanded Rs 50 lakh from her for not releasing the sex video.
On the complaint of the woman, the lower court took cognizance of the charge sheet filed on August 9, 2018. However, the accused moved the High Court requesting quashing of the charge sheet and the entire criminal trial. After considering the facts, the court found that the physical relationship between the complainant woman and the accused man continued for about 12-13 years and this relationship was from the time when the woman’s husband was alive.
The court found that the complainant woman had exerted undue influence on a person much younger than her age who was an employee in her husband’s company. Citing the Supreme Court judgment in the case of Naeem Ahmed vs. State of Haryana, the High Court reiterated that it would be foolish to treat every broken promise of marriage as a false promise and to prosecute a person for the crime of rape.