Sex before marriage is rape: Delhi high court

Man denied bail after sex on false marriage promise
February 01, 2010
http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/uncategorized/man-denied-bail-after-sex-on-false-marriage-promise_100313226.html
New Delhi, Feb 1 (IANS) Declining bail to a man who had sex with a girl after deluding her with false promise of marriage, the Delhi High Court Monday termed it “rape” and said the man had played with the girl’s emotions.
Justice V.K. Jain declined to grant bail to the man who had petitioned for anticipatory bail after raping his fiancee.

The court said: “Persuading a girl to have physical relations on the false promise of marriage, despite having no intention to marry, will in no case constitute rape, (but) will amount to putting premium on a conduct which is not only highly reprehensible and abhorrent but also criminal in nature.”

“The courts cannot and should not give such a license to those who keep on looking for opportunities to exploit the sentiments and vulnerability of Indian girls who perceive marriage as a pious bonding and not as a union of two bodies,” the court said.

The court also said that bail should not be granted in such cases as there is a possibility of the accused escaping from the clutches of law.

“If a girl surrenders herself to a boy, who comes into contact with her for the first time only in connection with a proposal for her marriage with him and who not only proposes to marry her but also formalizes his promise and strengthens her belief in his promise by entering into a formal ceremony such as engagement with her and thereby convinces her that he is actually going to marry her, she does it not because she loves him or wants to have pleasure with him, but because she does not want to disappoint her future husband,” the court said.

In the present case, the accused Nikhil Parasar had come in contact with the victim through a marriage portal and their family agreed to their marriage.

Subsequently, their parents arranged a pre-marriage ceremony or ‘Roka’.

After the ceremony, the couple used to meet frequently and the accused had allegedly forced the girl to have sexual relations against her wishes. Later, the boy refused to marry her and she filed a criminal complaint against him after which he absconded.

Apprehending arrest, the accused approached the court for bail.
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Sex before marriage is rape: Delhi high court
Feb 2, 2010
http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_sex-before-marriage-is-rape-delhi-high-court_1342233
The Delhi high court on Monday held that sex without marriage amounted to rape.

The court rejected pre-arrest bail to a man who repeatedly had sex with a woman but refused to marry her even after their engagement.

The woman stayed with her fiance, Nikhil Prasar, in Mumbai for a few days, “where they had fun, and then went to Delhi and stayed in a hotel where they had sex”.

When it came to fixing a date for marriage, however, Nikhil refused, on the grounds that he had learned that she belonged to a different caste.

The woman complained to the police and a rape case was registered.

Justice VK Jain said the caste factor was an afterthought by Prasar, who then absconded. Could he marry “any girl merely because she belonged to a particular caste or sub-caste, even if he did not approve of her personality, temperament, education, culture, upbringing, and family background", the court asked.

“The answer can, obviously, be in the negative," justice Jain said.

He said it appears that the man did not intend to marry the woman and that was why he did not wait for sex even till his formal engagement with her.

If he were so orthodox and conservative that he broke the marriage owing to caste differences, he should not have hurried in for sexual intercourse before marriage, the justice said.

The court held that if it was not held as rape, it would “result in unscrupulous and mischievous persons taking undue advantage of innocent girls by promising marriage with them".

Sexual intercourse before marriage amounts to rape or it will result in victimisation or exploitation of innocent girls, justice Jain said.