Bombay high court has refused to accept ¡®astrological incompatibility¡¯ as a valid reason for a Badlapur resident to back out from his promise to marry his girlfriend and get himself cleared of the charge of rape under the guise of false promise of marriage.
¡°It is apparent that applicant under the guise of astrologic incompatibility of horoscopes avoided the promise. Thus I am convinced that the material on record suggests it is a case of false promise to marry which apparently vitiates the complainant¡¯s consent,¡± Justice Sandeep Shinde said on Monday. He rejected the plea for discharge by the man who was booked in January 2013 for rape and cheating.
33-year-old Avishek Mitra had moved HC after an additional sessions judge at Dindoshi rejected his plea for discharge from the rape case, registered by Borivali police on the basis of a complaint lodged by his girlfriend, a Borivali resident.
She alleged that the two knew each other since 2012 as they worked together at a five star hotel in Mumbai and during the course the accused exploited her emotionally to have physical relationship with him, under false promise of marriage.
She added that when she conceived, the accused forced her to abort, claiming that he wanted to marry her, but two years later. However, she said, from December 2012, he started avoiding her and on December 28, she lodged a police complaint.
As the assistant commissioner of police referred them for counselling, the accused appeared along with his parents on January 4, 2013 and unconditionally agreed to marry her. Two days later, the complainant withdrew her complaint, but to her surprise, on January 18, the accused wrote to the counsellor backtracking from marriage.
Eventually, the complainant filed a fresh complaint and the police registered an offence, and subsequently also filed a charge-sheet against the accused. The accused moved HC after the trial court last year rejected his plea for discharge.
Before HC, it was argued on his behalf that the material on record did not suggest that there was absolutely no intent on his part to marry the complainant when he entered upon the relationship, nor could it be suggested that the promise to marry was false.
His counsel added that at the most it could be regarded as a case of breach of promise on account of astrological incompatibility, since the horoscopes of the two did not match.The single judge bench of justice Sandeep Shinde refused to accept the contention.
¡°Prima-facie, I am of the view that the applicant prevailed over the complainant to withdraw her first complaint by promising that he would marry her. However, his intentions were otherwise. Had the intentions been bonafide and true, the applicant would not have addressed a letter to Mr Parulekar (counsellor) and resiled from his promise to marry the complainant.¡±
But Justice Shinde said that there is sufficient material to suggest that since inception, the applicant had no intention of upholding his promise to marry the complainant.