Sex on promise to marry is rape: Supreme Court

New Delhi: In a significant verdict the Supreme Court has held that a person having sex with a woman on the promise of marrying her will amount to rape and her consent will be of no consequence as it is obtained by fraud.

Giving this ruling, a Bench of Justices L. Nageswara Rao and M.R. Shah said this kind of consent obtained by the accused cannot be said to be any consent because she was under the misconception that the accused intends to marry her, therefore, she submitted to sexual intercourse with him. This kind of consent taken by the accused with clear intention not to fulfil the promise and persuading the girl to believe that he is going to marry her and obtained her consent for the sexual intercourse under total misconception cannot be treated as consent.

Writing the judgment, Justice Shah said that such incidents are on the increase nowadays and that these are offences against society.

“Rape is the most morally and physically reprehensible crime in a society, an assault on the body, mind and privacy of the victim. As observed by this court in a catena of decisions, while a murderer destroys the physical frame of the victim, a rapist degrades and defiles the soul of a helpless female,” the Supreme Court observed.

The Bench, slapping a seven-year imprisonment on the appellant doctor Anurag Soni, said rape reduces a woman to an animal as it shakes the very core of her life. “By no means can a rape victim be called an accomplice. Rape leaves a permanent scar on the life of the victim. Rape is a crime against the entire society and violates the human rights of the victim. Being the most hated crime, rape is tantamount to a serious blow to the supreme honour of a woman, and offends both her esteem and dignity,” the court said.