Indulging in sexual relations with a woman on the false promise of marriage amounts to rape, the Delhi high court has held.
“Having sexual relations with a woman against her will or without her consent also amounts to rape under the IPC. If the consent was obtained on a false assurance or promise of marriage, the consent cannot be considered to be full and free and it would be a case of rape,” Justice R.V. Easwar said.
The court made the observation while rejecting the anticipatory bail plea of Abhishek Jain in a case lodged by his wife, alleging that he had sex with her prior to their marriage on the promise that he would marry her. In her complaint, the woman also said that he married her only after she lodged the case with police against him. She also said that the accused started torturing her soon after their marriage.
“It would prima facie appear that the marriage was gone through only to persuade the complainant to withdraw her complaint of February 25, 2013. Immediately after the marriage, the applicant started physically abusing the complainant, apparently, in the hope that she would leave him, but when she filed a complaint, the accused was forced to apply for bail,” the court said.
The woman had filed a complaint in February, 2013 with the Rani Bagh police station alleging that on several occasions before the marriage, the applicant (Jain) had raped her after falsely promising to marry her. However, on March 4, 2013, the applicant and the complainant got married at the Arya Samaj Vivah Mandir, Ghaziabad and the marriage registration was done by the registrar, hindu marriages, Ghaziabad, the complaint said. Referring to the contents of the FIR lodged by the woman against her husband, the court said, “The FIR narrates the physical abuse which the complainant had suffered at the hands of the applicant after the marriage...The FIR further narrates that the accused even used to tell the complainant that ‘he had married me (her) only to make me withdraw the complaint.’ Several instances are narrated in the FIR about threats and physical abuse suffered by the complainant not only from the applicant but also by his family members who had conspired together to cheat her.”

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BJP promises full statehood
Panaji, June 9: The BJP on Sunday supported full statehood for Delhi in the political resolution accepted by the party at its two-day national executive meetig in Goa.
Delhi BJP president Vijay Goel rued that the statehood demand has not been met till now.
Accusing the Sheila Dikshit government of failing to make adequate efforts in this direction, he said, “Delhi’s growth is restricted in absence of full statehood and Congress has done nothing during the last 14 years on this issue. The Congress government led by chief minister Sheila Dikshit did not make any effort to get full statehood for Delhi,” he said.
Mr Goel said that the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre had brought a bill in Parliament in 2003 to grant Delhi full statehood, “but Ms Dikshit opposed it”.
He said that after coming to power, the party will ensure full statehood for Delhi. “Full statehood to Delhi would bring greater accountability and more resources,” Mr Goel said. — PTI