Mere Friendship With Woman Not Consent For Sexual Relationship: Bombay HC
Mumbai: The Bombay High Court, while rejecting the anticipatory bail plea of a man accused of impregnating a woman on the pretext of marriage, observed that “just because a girl is friendly with a boy, it does not allow the boy to construe it as her consent to establish a sexual relationship with her.”
The 22-year-old complainant, in this case, had known the accused for some time. In 2019, the accused allegedly forcibly had sexual contact with the complainant while they were at another friend’s house. He said that he liked her and would marry her if she resisted.
The woman has mentioned in her complaint that the accused “forced” her. However, after she became pregnant, she refused to keep her promise of marriage.
Reviewing the case, Justice Bharti Dangre observed that the woman had developed feelings for the accused, but her version of the sexual relationship is that she allowed it because the accused had promised to marry her.
The court further observed that sexual relations were established several times on the promise of marriage. However, when the girl became pregnant, the applicant alleged infidelity but then forcibly had sex with her on the last date specified in the complaint.
Justice Dangre proclaimed: “In today’s society, it is entirely possible that a man and a woman who work together could become close, either because they are intellectually compatible or because they confide in each other as friends, disregarding gender, since friendship is not gender-based. However, friendship with someone of different sex does not give a man the right to compel himself upon her when she expressly declines copulation.”
The bench said the investigation conducted against the applicant required further investigation by the police to ascertain whether the woman was forced to have physical relations or not.
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