Court rejects anticipatory bail plea of man in rape case

A man, accused of raping his fiancee on the pretext of marrying her, has been refused anticipatory bail by a Delhi court which said prima facie the allegations showed that a divorcee with a young child has been exploited by misusing her vulnerable position.
Additional Sessions Judge Kamini Lau rejected the plea of Vinay Bhatia, a resident of north west Delhi, noting that it was after the 'Roka' (engagement) ceremony and before the date of marriage when the woman was induced by him to make physical relations with him on the pretext that they were going to be married soon.

"The accused had sexually exploited her on the promise of marriage and when all arrangements for marriage were finalized, he suddenly called off the marriage just a day before.
"Prima facie if the allegations are taken as correct, the act of the accused is both morally as well as legally wrong, the only difference being that if the intention of the accused and his proposal for marriage was only a ploy to elicit the assent of prosecutrix (woman) without inclination to marry, then such an act is punishable under Section 376 (rape) of the IPC and if his intent initially was honest which became dishonest after he sexually exploited her, then it would be an offence punishable under Section 420 (cheating) of the IPC," the court said.

"What is illegal is not the fact that a young man or a woman are into an intimate relationship but the manner in which the emotional, psychological, physical and social status of a young single woman (divorced) with a child, has been exploited by using a ploy of marriage.
"It is this dishonest intent which makes the act illegal," the court said, adding no questions can be permitted to be raised on her character and that too when the conduct of the man himself was equally questionable.
According to the prosecution, the FIR was lodged by the woman, a divorcee, against Bhatia alleging he had made sexual relations with her on the promise of marriage but later on refused to marry her.

She had claimed that he was known to her since November, 2013 and after their 'Roka' ceremony in January this year, he established physical relations with her on the pretext that their marriage has already been fixed for June 24. The woman has a three-year-old daughter from her first marriage.