The Bombay High Court granted bail to a rape offender on Monday after finding that he had a consensual relationship with the victim and that he was charged with rape and cheating after failing to take notice of the latter’s pregnancy.
A single bench of Justice Bharati Dangre stated, “the bail application can only be granted if the accused person marries the woman within a year.”
The prosecutrix and the accused were neighbours and engaged in a consensual relationship with the knowledge of their families and had been dating since 2018. They were also in a live-in relationship.
She learned she was six months pregnant after they had physical contact five or six times. The accused had promised to marry her. But once she informed him of the pregnancy, he backed out of their engagement.
On January 27, 2020, the prosecutrix gave birth to a girl. Three days later, she abandoned the newborn in front of a building. A police station complaint about the accused after that, he was detained.
While the infant was later placed for adoption, a separate FIR was filed against her for abandoning the child. The court observed that the accused and 22-year-old pregnant were in a consensual relationship, after the accused found that the women was pregnant, when he started to ignore her. This led to the filing of a rape and infidelity case.
Justice Dangre stated that the woman may be evading justice because she left the infant behind. The accused reassured the HC that he was ready to marry the woman and accept paternity of the child in the meantime.
According to the judgment, the applicant should be released on bail “subject to compliance that if the victim is traced within a short length of time within a period of one year, he shall solemnise marriage with her, but he shall not be bound by the statement after one year.” The bail was granted to the accused on a bail bond amounting to Rs. 25,000/-.
