The Calcutta High Court has refused to interfere with a rape conviction, holding that sexual consent extracted through a sham promise of marriage amounts to no consent in law, especially where deception existed from the outset. The ruling reinforces that promises made without genuine intent can vitiate consent under criminal law, carrying serious penal consequences.
The case arose from a complaint filed by the survivor’s family after it emerged that a young woman had been drawn into a sexual relationship by assurances of marriage, only to be abandoned once she became pregnant. The accused, already married, contested the conviction by arguing that the relationship was consensual and that the survivor voluntarily met him on multiple occasions.
Prosecutors countered that the relationship was built entirely on a false assurance of marriage, accompanied by inducements, and that the refusal to marry after conception exposed the deception that existed from the very beginning.
Dismissing the appeal, Justice Chaitali Chatterjee Das held that consent premised on a false promise of marriage is consent obtained under a misconception of fact, and therefore legally invalid. The Court underscored that the accused’s marital status and conduct showed an absence of bona fide intent from inception, observing that it was a “clear case of deception from the beginning.”
Medical evidence was held non-determinative given the delay in examination, and the surrounding circumstances sufficiently established the offence. The Court accordingly upheld the trial court’s finding under Section 376 of the IPC and affirmed the sentence of seven years’ imprisonment.
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