Educated women must take responsibility for their decision to enter a pre-marital sexual relationship, the Bombay High Court has observed. Justice Mridula Bhatkar also said that a promise of marriage cannot be considered a reason to allege rape in every case. The court made the observations while hearing the case of a woman who accused her former boyfriend of rape for convincing her to have pre-marital sex with him by promising to marry her, The Times of India reported on Saturday.
“There should be some material on record to believe prima facie that the girl was induced by the accused to such an extent that she was ready to have sexual intercourse with him,” Bhatkat observed. “A promise to marry cannot be said to be an inducement in these types of cases.”
The judge further noted that society and societal interactions continues to carry “the baggage of morality”, with pre-marital sex being a “matter of censure”. “Under such circumstances, a woman who is in love with a boy forgets that to have sex is her option like her counterpart’s but refuses to take responsibility for her decision,” Bhatkar said, according to NewsX.
The bench, however, observed that a false promise to marry could be considered an inducement to rape if the woman was uneducated and the man impersonated another individual while hiding crucial facts from her. Following the observation, the court granted pre-arrest bail to the accused.
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