Women are rampantly misusing the rape law as a weapon against their male partners for many reasons, including when differences arise between the two, the Uttarakhand High Court said on July 5, reported Bar and Bench on Thursday.

Justice Sharad Kumar Sharma passed the judgement while quashing criminal proceedings against a man booked for having sexual relations with a woman allegedly on the pretext that he would marry her.

Sharma said that the man named Manoj Kumar Arya had been in a consensual sexual relationship with the complainant since 2005. The two had promised each other that they would get married as soon as one of them found a job, the High Court noted.

It was under the promise of marriage that the man and the complainant had established physical relationship, reported Bar and Bench. However, their relationship continued even after he married another woman.

“When the complainant had voluntarily established a relationship even after knowing the fact, that the applicant is already a married person, the element of consent itself imbibes in it,” the judgement said.

The woman had filed a complaint against Arya On June 30, 2020.

The judge said that her allegations could have been established only after her medical examination and report was provided.

“An element or assurance of marriage, and on that pretext, entering into a consensual relationship, the falsity of an assurance of marriage is to be tested at its initial stage of inception, and not at a subsequent stage,” the judgement said. “The initial stage, wherein, cannot be said to have been prolonged for 15 years, and even continued after the marriage of the applicant.”