A Mumbai session court has acquitted a 31 years old marchant navy officer who was accused of raping his former girlfriend on the pretext of promise of marriage.
Both of them were from different caste and the man had refused to take the relationship further due to opposition from his family.

“After considering the material that there was no express promise of marriage by the accused to the girl prior to their having sexual relations, and after considering case laws, this case does not come under the definition of rape,” judge DD Khoche said.

The court observed that coming from different castes and cultures, the woman should have been aware about the difficulties in getting married.
The woman was Bengali and the man was a Maharashtrian.

“As rightly submitted by advocate for the accused, when the informant was a person of proper understanding and major, she was expected to consider all facts of her different culture, caste, languages, etc., and to consider the difficulties which might have come in her smooth marriage with the accused,” the judge said.

It was also observed that when the woman and the accused had physical relations for first time in 2016 when she was around 25 years old and was able to understand the consequences of “keeping relations without marriage”. The court said, during her deposition, the woman had accepted that there was only an understanding between the accused and her about marriage.

“Understanding can be only by one person and in his or her mind, but it may not be in the mind of the other party. It becomes a promise, once it is expressed and accepted,” the court said.

Thus, the court acquitted the man and dismissed the case.