A man reneging on his promise to marry due to parental disapproval cannot be tried for the offence of rape, the Bombay High Court’s Nagpur bench held.
A single bench of Justice MW Chandwani on January 30 discharged a 31-year-old man charged for allegedly raping a woman under the pretext of marriage, noting that he intended to marry her but was forced to break the promise because of parental disapproval.
The man merely breached his promise of marriage and did not give the woman the pretext of marriage to establish physical relations with her, the court said.
“There is a distinction between breach of a promise and not fulfilling a false promise,” it said.
The case originated from a complaint filed by a 33-year-old woman in 2019 with the Nagpur police, alleging that a man engaged in a physical relationship with her promising marriage.
The man claimed that the woman initially refused to marry him, after which his family disapproved of the relationship. He then got engaged to someone else.
The High Court took note of this and said this would, at the most, amount to a breach of promise.
“At the most, it is a case of non-fulfilment or a breach of promise on account of circumstances, which the applicant (accused) could not have foreseen or which were beyond his control as he was unable to marry the victim, despite having every intention to do so,” it said.
The court further noted that there was no material on record to show that since the beginning of the relationship, the man did not intend to marry the woman and that he made a false promise to establish physical relations.
“Merely because he resiled from his promise to marry since his parents were not agreeable to their marriage, it cannot be said that the applicant committed the offence of rape,” it held.
In the petition seeking discharge in the case, the man said he had every intention to marry the woman, but she declined his proposal and told him she would marry someone else.
The man’s family members also disapproved of the relationship, after which he agreed to get engaged to another woman.
However, the woman allegedly got infuriated and lodged the complaint, the plea stated, adding that the complainant married another man in 2021.
The court noted that the woman was a mature adult and said the allegations levelled by her did not at face value indicate that the man’s promise to marry her was false.
