'She was an equal participant': Thane court clears man of rape, cheating charges after 2-year relationship

NEW DELHI: A sessions court in Maharashtra’s Thane district has acquitted a 33-year-old man accused of rape and cheating, observing that a consensual long-term relationship based on a promise of marriage cannot automatically be treated as rape if there was no fraudulent intention from the beginning, as per a report by PTI news agency.Additional Sessions Judge Ruby U Malvankar cleared the accused Shahbaz Mohammad Salim Khan, a resident of Mumbra, of charges under the Indian Penal code (IPC) related to rape, cheating, criminal intimidation and intentional insult.According to the prosecution, the accused had befriended the complainant — a divorcee and mother of two daughters — while both were employed at a mall in Thane. The woman alleged that Khan established sexual relations with her between 2016 and 2018 on the assurance that he would marry her, but later refused to do so and allegedly threatened her.However, the court found that the relationship between the two had been consensual from the outset and continued for nearly two years without any complaint being lodged during the same period.“A relationship spanning two years is a substantial period, and throughout this time, she never lodged a complaint nor indicated that she felt cheated. This suggests she was an equal participant in the sexual relationship,” the court observed.The court further noted that there was no material on record to show that the accused had entered the relationship with a dishonest or mala fide intention to deceive the complainant into a sexual relationship under a false promise of marriage, the PTI news agency reported.The court also found the survivor’s allegations regarding criminal intimidation and intentional insult to be vague and unsupported by convincing evidence.Holding that the prosecution had failed to establish the charges beyond reasonable doubt, the court acquitted the accused of all offences and ordered discharge of his bail bonds.