Tripura High Court: Sanjay Karol, CJ, dismissed a criminal appeal filed against the decision of the Additional Sessions Judge whereby the appellant was convicted under Section 376 IPC committing rape on the prosecutrix.
The prosecution alleged that the appellant made sexual relations with the prosecutrix, who was of unstable mind, on the false pretext of marrying her. As a result, the prosecutrix became pregnant and she delivered a still-born child. It was alleged that the appellant was now refusing to marry her. The prosecutrix deposed before the Court: “he promised marriage to me and have sex. I became pregnant. He did not marry me.” The appellant was tried and convicted by the trial court as stated above. Aggrieved, the appellant, represented by Ratan Dutta and Simita Chakraborty, Advocates, filed the present appeal. Per contra, Babul Chaudhary, Public Prosecutor, opposed the same.
The High court was of the view that the present case attracts Section 375 (rape) read with Section 90 (consent known to be given under fear or misconception) IPC. The corollary deduced upon a conjoint reading of the sections was stated thus: “an offence of rape would be deemed to have been committed if a man has sexual intercourse with a woman without her consent. A consent obtained under the misconception of fact, would not amount to be a consent within the purview of Section 90 IPC.”
The Court relied on Kaini Rajan v. State of Kerala, (2013) 9 SCC 113; Deepak Gulati v. State of Haryana, (2013) 7 SCC 675; and Anurag Soni v. State of Chhattisgarh, 2019 SCC OnLine SC 509, and held that “It stands established and proven that from the very inception, the appellant, by promising marriage, obtained consent to enter into a sexual relationship, though he never had any intention to marry and the prosecutrix who gave her consent for sexual intercourse with the assurance by the accused of marrying her. Such consent can very well be said to be a consent obtained on a misconception of fact as per Section 90 IPC and, in a case of such like nature, consent would not excuse the offender.”
The Court held the appellant guilty as charged and therefore dismissed his appeal while upholding the conviction and sentence passed by the trial court.[Marendra Debbarama v. State of Tripura, 2019 SCC OnLine Tri 257, decided on 27-06-2019]