Delhi HC refuses anticipatory bail to man for raping woman on false promise of marriage

The Delhi High Court has refused to grant anticipatory bail to a man, accused of engaging in physical relations with a woman on the false pretext of marrying her despite being already married.

New Delhi:The Delhi High Court has refused to grant anticipatory bail to a man, accused of engaging in physical relations with a woman on the false pretext of marrying her despite being already married. Observing that the man cheated the woman at "every occasion" and has also been declared a proclaimed offender, the high court said he was not entitled for the relief.

"In the circumstances, the petitioner is not entitled to anticipatory bail considering his conduct of cheating the prosecutrix at every occasion and primarily because he does not join investigation and has been declared a proclaimed offender. The petition is dismissed accordingly," Justice Yogesh Khanna said.

The court was hearing the man's anticipatory bail plea as he feared arrest in an FIR lodged against him at Vasant Kunj Police station this year for the offence of raping and criminally intimidating the woman. The woman, in her complaint, alleged she was being exploited on the pretext of marriage since October 2018.

The man, in his plea, said the alleged promise to marry, if any, was given in October 2018 when they met on a matrimonial website and indulged in sexual intercourse. Later, they went outside Delhi and again established consensual relations and in 2019, the woman came to know that the man had not taken divorce from his wife, she continued the consensual relationship with him and condoned his act, the plea claimed.

It alleged that now the woman cannot plead that she was innocent and duped by the man as she made consensual relations with him till February. The high court, however, said FIR showed that the man had misrepresented himself to be a divorcee and that his wife and kids were residing in Canada.

The court perused the man's profile on the matrimonial website and noted that he had even changed his name and gave a fake address. It said there was misrepresentation/ misconception right from inception and false promises were made to get the woman engaged in the sexual act.

"It appears the prosecutrix came to know of his marriage in 2019 and she filed complaint but it was withdrawn as the accused had assured her he would get a divorce from his wife which was under process. Here too he showed her some documents purportedly a petition of divorce (fake) pending at Dwarka court.

"Thus at every step he misrepresented the facts to obtain her consent on false grounds/ facts. Thus, there exists a direct nexus of false promise to the prosecutrix decision to engage in sexual act," the judge said. The woman in her statement before a magistrate reiterated that when she came to know of his marriage, he convinced her that he will surely get divorce from his earlier wife and would marry her. She submitted that he even displayed fake divorce petition and again engaged in a sexual act with her. (PTI)