Bombay High Court: While granting anticipatory bail to a man accused of rape, a bench comprising of Mridula Bhatkar, J. observed that an educated woman is mature enough to understand the consequences of having physical relations with her partner and such cases will not fall under the ambit of rape.
In the present case, a 25 years old man was accused of rape, cheating and criminal intimidation by his former 24 years old partner. In the complaint, she alleged that the accused had got her into a physical relationship on the pretext of marriage and later refused to marry her. She also claimed that she conceived but had to undergo an abortion after he forced her.
The Court while granting bail to the man took into consideration that the that the withdrawal of the promise of marriage was the reason to file a case of rape against the accused and that the prosecutrix had voluntarily been staying with the accused in hotels before the relationship turned sour. Considering the age of the prosecutrix, judge said that she was inclined to grant pre arrest bail to the applicant. While granting the accused bail on a surety of Rs 25,000, the Court also directed him to not contact the woman or harass her or her family members in any manner. [Sumit Siddramappa Patil vs. State of Maharashtra, 2016 SCC OnLine Bom 565, decided on 10-03-2016]
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