The Kerala high Court has, in one of its latest verdicts, said that educated women cannot cry rape if they have had premarital sex multiple times with a man because he has promised them marriage.
This comes just weeks after the Bombay High Court ruled that an educated girl who has consented to premarital sex must be responsible for her decision, and that promise of marriage cannot be considered inducement in every case.
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What the court said
Ernakulam-resident Ratheesh Ramachandran had been convicted by a lower court in 2012 of raping an engineering graduate. She had said in a complaint in August 2008 that Ratheesh forced himself on her at a hotel, and then had had sex with her three more times at her home on separate occasions. Then, when he had retracted his promise of marriage, she had filed the case and won, with the lower court sentencing Ratheesh to seven years of simple imprisonment and a Rs 10,000 fine.
It was this verdict against which Ratheesh had moved the Kerala HC, which observed: "An analysis of the evidence given by the lady will show that the lady had intercourse with the accused on many occasions at her residence. Even a common lady or an uneducated lady cannot be deceived more than once or twice on a promise of marriage."
'Clear case of consent'
The court added: "PW1 [the complainant] is a well educated lady having a degree in engineering. It is quite unbelievable that she could be easily deceived on a marriage promise on many occasions. Admittedly, three or four such instances were at her residence, when her parents were away. Much probe is not required in this case to find that the sexual intercourse which the prosecutrix had with the accused on many occasions at her house was with her consent."
The court also acquitted Ratheesh of the charge of rape, observing that this was "a clear case of consent, and that the sexual intercourse was not at any time vitiated by any false promise."
