Sexual relations due to deep love not a rape : High Court

Sexual relations due to deep love not a rape : High Court

The Goa branch of the Bombay high court has recently held that a man cannot be convicted for rape for having sexual intercourse with a woman by “a misrepresentation of fact”, when there is evidence of “a deep love affair” between the two.

The HC set aside a seven-year jail term and Rs 10,000 fine awarded by a trial court against an accused for raping a woman after giving false promise to marry her. The accused appealed against the order. In 2013, a passing acquaintance between two casino workers turned into a love affair.

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Then chef Yogesh Palekar took the woman home to introduce her to his family. His family was not at home and she stayed back for the night. After sexual relations, woman filed rape complaint.

They had sexual intercourse and the next morning he dropped her home. Later, too, they had sexual intercourse at his residence on three or four occasions. He, however, refused to marry her as she belonged to a lower caste.

The woman then filed a complaint of rape against Palekar and stated that she had agreed for sexual intercourse as he had promised to marry her. In the course of the trial, it was also revealed that the survivor provided Palekar with financial support.

Justice C V Bhadang held that the evidence clearly showed that “the consent could not be said to be based only on the promise made by Palekar, but was out of love affair” between the two. “Even after this, their relationship continued,” the court noted, adding that the woman “used to provide the appellant financial help for his daily needs and both of them had sex on 3-4 occasions” in his house. “It can thus be clearly seen that there was a clear consent on the basis of which they had a physical relationship,” the court said.

The woman, the judge said, also “went to the extent of withdrawing” her complaint by filing an affidavit as the man was undergoing treatment at the Institute of Psychiatry and Human Behaviour in Goa for depression. She cited emotional and personal reasons for her decision. “This clearly shows there was deep love between them. Had the intention of the appellant (Palekar), since inception, been to exploit the survivor, he would not have apprised her about his delicate financial condition,” Justice Bhadang said. As she had helped Palekar financially, it cannot be accepted that he was in a position to dominate or exploit the woman sexually, the court added.