Madhya Pradesh HC: Man cannot take advantage of woman in disguise of consensual sexual intercourse

Madhya Pradesh High Court on Thursday dismissed a petition filed by man accused of raping a woman on the false promise of marriage.

While hearing a petition filed by Bhopal resident Rajeev Sharma seeking quashing of rape charges filed against him by his former fiancee, the Court said that police are justified in registering a case of rape as consent obtained for sex on the pretext of marriage is ‘not free consent’.

Rajeev Sharma, who developed friendship with a dance teacher on Facebook, proposed marriage to her. As she accepted his proposal, the marriage was fixed despite opposition from Sharma's mother.

In her complaint, the victim said that he got her into a physical relationship by saying that she should not have any issues since they were going to marry. However, as he went back on his promise, she lodged an FIR at Ashoka Garden police station on March 19, 2017, accusing him of rape.

Judge Sushil Kumar Palo quoted a Supreme Court order to say: “A woman’s body is not a man’s play thing and he cannot take advantage of it in order to satisfy his lust and desires by fooling a woman into consenting to sexual intercourse simply because he wants to indulge in it. The accused in this case has committed the vile act and deserves to be suitably punished.”

The Judge, while convinced that Sharma had promised marriage to the girl to get her consent for sexual relation added, “On the analysis of factual and legal aspects, this court is of the opinion that the petitioner invaded the woman’s person of indulging in sexual intercourse in order to appease his lust, all the time knowing that he would not marry her. Thus, he committed an act of fraud, leading her to believe that he would marry her.”

The Court even directed the police to go ahead with the rape case.