Bombay High Court Quashes Rape Case Against 73-Year-Old Stating Relation was Consensual

Mumbai: The Bombay High Court dismissed a rape case lodged against a 73-year-old man for allegedly sexually abusing a woman since 1987, stating that the relationship was consensual.

A division bench of the Bombay High Court on Wednesday said the contents of the FIR “clearly indicate a consensual relationship”.

“The parties were indulging in sexual relationship for as many as 31 years. The complainant has never breathed a word about her alleged objection to the relationship,” the court said.

“This is a classic case of a relationship between the parties turning sour and thereafter the complainant lodging a police complaint,” the court added.

The complainant woman alleged that she had joined the man’s company in 1987 as the accused allegedly forcibly established sexual relations with her. Thereafter, for 30 years between July 1987 and 2017, the accused raped her at various hotels, she alleged.

As per the case, he promised to marry her in 1993, declared she was his second wife and did not permit her to marry anyone else.

The bench pointed out that the FIR itself indicates the woman was aware the accused was married and she is adult enough to know the law forbids a second marriage. In the past 31 years, there were many opportunities for the woman to break away and lodge a complaint against the accused but she did not do so, the bench noted.