Court Acquits Man In Rape Case, Citing Consensual Relationship
A court sitting in Belapur has acquitted a 28-year-old man Navi Mumbai, who was arrested on charges of repeatedly raping a woman under the pretense of marriage.
Navi was acquitted by the Belapur Sessions Court, offering him major relief.
An Additional sessions judge Makarand Mandawgade, in a verdict delivered on September 15, ruled that the relationship between the two was consensual and that the prosecution failed to establish sufficient evidence.
The complainant had met the accused in 2015 while employed at a garment company in Bhiwandi.
Their friendship soon developed into a romantic relationship that turned physical.
According to her complaint, between September 2015 and December 2017, the accused allegedly took her multiple times to a lodge in Ghansoli, where he engaged in sexual relations on the assurance of marriage.
When he later refused to marry her in May 2018, she lodged a complaint with the Rabale Police, and the accused was arrested that month and granted bail in June 2018.
In its ruling, the court highlighted contradictions in the woman’s testimony. It noted that as an adult, she had continued the relationship for years without objection and delayed filing her complaint.
The court further observed that since intimacy spanned over two years and was not a single incident, it could not be classified as rape.
The judge added that the refusal to marry did not prove fraudulent intent from the outset.
The court then cancelled the bail bonds but directed the accused to provide a personal bond of Rs25,000 and surety under section 437(A) CrPC.
#newsband