A man cannot be convicted for raping a woman if the two had sexual intercourse out of “a deep love affair”, the Goa branch of the Bombay high court said in a landmark verdict.
The Court quashed the seven-year jail term awarded to Yogesh Palekar,a Goa-based casino dealer, by a lower court for raping a woman after making false promise to marry her, Times of India reported.
Pronouncing the judgment, Justice C V Bhadang said that the evidence clearly showed that “the consent could not be said to be based only on the promise made by Palekar, but was out of love affair” between the two.
“Even after this, their relationship continued,” the court noted, adding that the woman “used to provide the appellant financial help for his daily needs and both of them had sex on 3-4 occasions” in his house.
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In 2013, Palekar was in a relationship with a fellow casino worker(the victim) with whom he made love on multiple occasions.
He reportedly took the woman home to introduce her to his family. His family was not at home and she stayed back for the night. They had sexual intercourse and the next morning he dropped her home. Later, too, they had sexual intercourse at his residence on three or four occasions. He, however, refused to marry her as she belonged to a lower caste.
The woman then lodged a complaint of rape against Palekar and stated that she had agreed for sexual intercourse as he had promised to marry her. In the course of the investigation, it also emerged that the victim provided Palekar with financial support.
