Bombay HC States Refusal To Marry After Being In A Mutual Consensual Sexual Relationship Doesn’t Qualify As Cheating

Imagine you’re in a physical/sexual relationship with someone. You both are adults who have mutually consented to be a part of this relationship. Now, if one of you wants to end it, will that be counted as cheating? I don’t think so. I mean, when you’re in a mutually consensual sexual relationship with someone and they do not want to continue or refuse to marry you, then it definitely isn’t considered as they duped you into getting into a relationship. Recently, the Bombay High Court (HC) passed a judgement, observing that the refusal to marry after being in a mutual, consensual sexual relationship for a long time doesn’t qualify as cheating. 

A woman filed an FIR against a man alleging that he had a sexual relationship with her on the pretext of marriage but later refused to marry her. The lower court then had booked the man under Sections 376 and 417 of the IPC for rape and cheating. The lower court convicted him for cheating but acquitted him of the rape charge in February 1999, sentencing him to one-year imprisonment. It was after that the man approached the Bombay HC against the lower court’s verdict.

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The Bombay HC tried the case and acquitted the man stating that there was a lack of evidence to prove that the man did not want to marry the woman he was having a sexual relationship with since the beginning. The court in its judgement said, “The evidence of PW1- Prosecutrix reveals that the accused was known to her. She had a sexual relationship with the accused for over about 3 years. Evidence of PW2- sister of the prosecutrix also reveals that there was a love affair between the accused and the prosecutrix. The evidence on record thus indicates that the sexual relationship between the prosecutrix and the accused was consensual. The accused has been held guilty of an offence under Section 417 of the IPC solely for the reason that he refused to marry the prosecutrix. The question is whether in such circumstances refusal to marry constitutes an offence of cheating.”

Also Read: Bombay HC: Hurling Chit At Married Woman Is Outraging Of Modesty

As per reports, Bombay HC further stated that there was a lack of evidence to indicate that the man did not want to marry the woman since the beginning of their sexual relationship. It said, “In the absence of evidence to prove that the prosecutrix had consented for physical relationship on a misconception of fact, as stipulated under Section 90 of IPC, the mere refusal to marry would not constitute an offence under Section 417 of the IPC.”

Honestly, I’m glad that the court recognised this. Since there has been a lot of time that people enter into a physical/sexual relationship with someone and then accuse them of not marrying them. And that isn’t fair, since they also were the ones who mutually agreed on the relationship.

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