False marriage: 7-year jail term to man for rape

A Delhi court has sentenced to a seven-year jail term a married man, who fraudulently tied the knot with another woman after meeting her through a matrimonial site, holding his second marriage "invalid" and terming his having physical relations with her as rape.

Additional Sessions Judge Kaveri Baweja awarded the seven-year jail term to Anil Dariya after finding him guilty of rape and slapped him with a fine of Rs.10,000.

The court said: "It is proved beyond doubt, that the accused established physical relations with the victim knowing that he is already married and the victim gave her consent for cohabiting with the accused believing him to be her lawful husband, which he was not, his marriage with the victim 'M' being an invalid marriage."

"The victim thus obviously gave her consent for physical relations with the accused believing that he is her lawful husband and the accused also established physical relations with her knowing fully well that he was already married," it said Nov 24.

The court held that the consent of the victim, in such circumstances, can certainly not be termed as valid and convicted the man under sections dealing with rape.

The victim told the court that her marriage was solemnised with the convict in February 2009 in Patel Nagar, central Delhi after her father searched him through a matrimonial site. The man told the victim's father that he was working in Gurgaon.

The victim alleged that after ten days of marriage, the accused told her that he had been transferred to Pune and stopped responding to her calls. He threatened her that she and her family members would be killed if they tried to find him, the court said.

It was alleged that the man had made several fake profiles on the matrimonial website.