The Allahabad High Court has clarified in an important decision that physical relations cannot be considered a misdemeanor in long -term love affairs. This comment was made by a bench of Justice Arun Kumar Singh Deshwal, dismissing the petition filed by a woman from Mahoba district against her colleague Lekhpal.

The victim had alleged that the accused made a false promise of marriage and made physical relations with her and later refused to marry. The High Court said in its judgment that if a woman knows that marriage is not possible for social reasons, yet she maintains a relationship with her consent for many years, then it cannot be placed in the category of rape.

This case is related to Charkhari police station area of ​​Mahoba district. In 2019, the victim accused her colleague Lekhpal of raping her by feeding intoxicating substances on the pretext of birthday party. He also claimed that the accused made a video of him and blackmailed him. According to the victim, the accused promised to marry her when she came to her consciousness, but after four years, she retracted from marriage citing caste reasons. When the police officials did not take any action on his complaint, he filed a complaint in the AC/ST (SC/ST) special court. However, the special court also dismissed his petition, after which he approached the Allahabad High Court.

Arguments given by the accused

The lawyer of the accused Lekhpal argued in the court that the victim had first refused to take action by writing to the police station and the Superintendent of Police. The lawyer also told that when the accused asked the victim two lakh rupees back, he filed this complaint with a sense of revenge. It was argued that the woman’s allegations are baseless and they have been levied only with the aim of taking revenge on the economic dispute. The argument gave a new turn to the case and the court got an opportunity to listen to both sides seriously.

The victim’s petition in the High Court dismissed

The High Court dismissed the victim’s plea after hearing. The court said that both sides were in a love affair for a long time and were formed by mutual consent of both physical relations. The court also said that if a woman knows that marriage is not possible due to social causes or other obstacles, yet she voluntarily maintains a relationship for years, then she cannot be seen as a rape. This decision has established that having a relationship by promising marriage is not always a rape, especially when the two sides stay together for a long time. This decision can become an example for similar cases in future.