Man freed in rape case, court says it was extra-marital affair

Court said married woman, who had four children, got involved in affair during subsistence of her marriage

A man accused of raping a married woman on the false promise of marriage has been acquitted by a Delhi court, which observed it was a case of an "extra-marital affair being converted into rape".

The court said the married woman, who had four children, got involved in the affair during subsistence of her marriage and to save herself from "embarrassment", filed a false case against her paramour when her husband came to know about their relation.

"This trend of extra-marital affairs being converted into rape cases is coming up as several such cases have been filed in court on similar allegations. When a woman herself is not in a capacity to marry another man during the subsistence of her marriage, then why should her paramour be prosecuted, incarcerated and be tried for rape when it is actually just an extra-marital affair.

"This kind of unscrupulous litigation is required to be nipped in the bud itself," Additional Sessions Judge Nivedita Anil Sharma said, adding with changing times, the understanding of "morality" is also changing.

The court acquitted Moti Nagar resident Samir of the charges of rape and cheating, saying there is no material on record that the 25-year-old woman was forced into physical relations by the accused on a false promise of marriage.

"In fact what emerges from the evidence of prosecutrix is that there appears to be an element of an extra-marital affair between her and the accused which came within the knowledge of her husband due to which she left or was made to leave her matrimonial home and consequently the rape case was lodged (against accused) probably to save embarrassment for herself and maintain relations with her husband," the court said.

According to the prosecution, the woman filed a complaint with the police alleging that from January to April 20, this year, Samir repeatedly raped her on the false promise that he would marry her.