Published on: 7 September 2023 at 17:06 IST
Court: Supreme Court of India
Citation: Deepak Gulati V. State of Haryana (2013)
Honourable Supreme Court of India has held that in the event that the Accused’s promise is not false and has not been made with the sole intention to seduce the prosecutrix to indulge in sexual acts then it would not amount to rape. It is also held that where the Prosecutrix under a misconception of fact to the extent that the accused is likely to marry her, submits to the lust of the accused then such a fraudulent act cannot be said to be consensual so far as the offence of the Accused is concerned.
21. Consent may be express or implied, coerced or misguided, obtained willingly or through deceit. Consent is an act of reason, accompanied by deliberation, the mind weighing, as in a balance, the good and evil on each side.
There is a clear distinction between rape and consensual sex and in a case like this, the court must very carefully examine whether the accused had actually wanted to marry the victim, or had mala fide motives, and had made a false promise to this effect only to satisfy his lust, as the latter falls within the ambit of cheating or deception.
There is a distinction between the mere breach of a promise, and not fulfilling a false promise. Thus, the court must examine whether there was made, at an early stage a false promise of marriage by the accused; and whether the consent involved was given after wholly understanding the nature and consequences of sexual indulgence.
There may be a case where the prosecutrix agrees to have sexual intercourse on account of her love and passion for the accused, and not solely on account of misrepresentation made to her by the accused, or where an accused on account of circumstances which he could not have foreseen, or which were beyond his control, was unable to marry her, despite having every intention to do so. Such cases must be treated differently. An accused can be convicted for rape only if the court reaches a conclusion that the intention of the accused was mala fide, and that he had clandestine motives.
Drafted By Abhijit Mishra