HC: Sex under ‘mistaken belief’ is not rape

Nagpur: In an interesting verdict delivered recently, the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court has ruled that a woman having a sexual relationship with a man hoping that he would marry her eventually, cannot be a termed as rape.

A-single judge bench of justice Ambadas Joshi observed that “sexual relationship under a mistaken belief and hence a rape, as developed in the process of trial, does not stand in the eye of law”. In the process, the court set aside the Yavatmal sessions court judgment that convicted Sandip Rathod, now 42, under Section 376 for raping a ‘16-yearold’ girl in 1996.

The high court also stated that the age of the victim had been proved to be around 18 years and therefore “it is material to see that the charge does not contain any imputation, such as promise to marry and based thereon, sexual relationship”.