The Allahabad High Court has warned that exploiting women through false promises of marriage is a serious social threat. Denying anticipatory bail, the Court stressed the need to curb such growing tendencies to protect women and uphold societal morality.
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UTTAR PRADESH: The Allahabad High Court has expressed serious concern over the increasing trend of sexually exploiting women by making false promises of marriage, observing that such tendencies must be curbed at the very outset as they pose a grave threat to society.
The observation was made while rejecting an anticipatory bail application filed by an accused booked under various provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), including Section 69, which deals with sexual intercourse by deceit or false promise.
Justice Nalin Kumar Srivastava, while dismissing the bail plea of Prashant Pal, held that the material on record indicated that the accused never intended to marry the victim and acted with fraudulent intent from the very beginning.
“In the present case, the facts reveal that the accused applicant had a fraudulent intention towards the victim from the very beginning. He had no intention of marrying the victim from the outset,”
the Court observed.
Rejecting the defence that the relationship was consensual, the High Court noted that the accused repeatedly established physical relations with the victim by assuring her of marriage, only to later refuse and get engaged to another woman.
“Exploiting the victim under the pretext of marriage and ultimately refusing to marry her are tendencies that are increasing in society and must be curbed at the outset,”
the Court said.
Terming the offence as “serious against society,” the Court ruled that the accused was not entitled to any leniency, particularly at the stage of anticipatory bail.
Although the victim was an adult and aware of the consequences of her actions, the Court emphasized that she had placed complete trust and faith in the accused based on his promise of marriage.
According to the State, the accused maintained sexual relations with the victim for nearly five years, subjected her to physical and mental torture, and later threatened her with obscene videos.
The medical examination of the victim reportedly corroborated her allegations of sexual assault, further strengthening the prosecution’s case.
Opposing the bail application, the state counsel argued that the accused had deliberately deceived the victim for years under the false pretext of marriage and misused her trust. In light of the seriousness of the allegations and supporting evidence, the state urged the Court to deny protection from arrest.
Accepting the state’s submissions, the High Court dismissed the anticipatory bail plea, reiterating that crimes involving deception and sexual exploitation under false promises strike at the very fabric of society.
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