Bombay High Court Discharges 67-Year-Old Man From 2015 Rape Case, Citing Consensual Relationship

The Bombay High Court has discharged a 67-year-old man from a 2015 rape case registered against him by a 61-year-old woman after noting that the physical relationship between the two was consensual and not forced. Justice Bharati Dangre, in a single-bench order on May 4, stated that the relationship between the complainant and the accused was between two adults capable of understanding the consequences of their actions.

The FIR was registered with the Pune police in 2015, where the woman alleged that the man had forced physical relations with her on multiple occasions since 2005 under the false pretext of marriage. The man was booked under various sections of the Indian Penal Code for rape, molestation, and criminal intimidation. However, the High Court noted that the duo shared a consensual relationship from 2005 to 2015 when the complaint was lodged, and the physical indulgence was not without the woman's consent or against her will.

The bench further noted that the woman was aware that the man was already married, yet she continued the relationship. The court said that the offence of rape is attracted when the act is done against the will and without the consent of the woman. In this case, the relationship between the accused and the woman continued for a decade, and it was mutual and consensual. The court observed that there was no reason to infer that the relationship shared was forced, and it was not a case where a young woman was lured into a physical relationship by a man under the pretext of marriage.

As per the case, the woman had separated from her first husband and later remarried but lost her second husband in an accident. The complainant used to work as a headmaster in a school in Pune where the man was a chairman. While the two got into a relationship in 2005, the woman lodged the complaint in 2015, claiming that he used to physically abuse her when she demanded that he marry her.