The Supreme Court,on Monday, while granting a man, accused of raping a woman on the false pretext of marrying her, protection from arrest for eight weeks asked weather physical relationship between a couple living as husband and wife could be called rape.
The bench headed by CJI S A Bobde observed that, “If a couple is living together as husband and wife, the husband may be a brutal man but can you call the act of sexual intercourse between them as rape”.As per the contention made by the counsel of the complainant, the consent was obtained by fraud and therefore was not a “free consent”.
He also contended that, in 2014, the accused took the complainant to a temple in Manali where they performed all marriage rituals.Also, the complainant’s counsel contended that the woman was the victim of physical abuse while referring to her medicial records.
Thereafter, the Supreme Court while dismissing the special leave petition granted the accused the protection of arrest for eight weeks and said that the trial court will decide the liberty of the petitioner after the evidence be produced in the relevant court.
Lawcutor 