Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Apr 15: Presiding Officer Fast Track Court Jammu, Amarjeet Singh Langeh today dismissed a criminal case against one Abhishek Hans and discharged him of rape offence.
The allegations against the accused were that he initiated a love affair with prosecutrix, who remained in relationship with him for more than three years as accused promised to marry her which fact she also apprised her brother, sister and mother.
It was also alleged that she and accused used to go to residence of each other freely and accused bluffed her into physical relationship under false pretence of marriage and when she insisted for marriage, accused refused. Thereafter, she registered a complaint with police station concerned where FIR No.129/2023 for offence under Section 376 of IPC was registered and on completion of investigation, case for trial for commission of rape against accused on false promise of marriage was presented in the court.
While discharging the accused, the court held, “material available on record, even if taken on face value would demonstrate that the relationship between prosecutrix and accused originated in love affair, developed over a period of time accompanied by consensual physical relation for over a period of three years and yet she could not underscore the gravity of situation and its implication”.
Relying on various Supreme Court judgments that fraudulent intention if any must be ostensible from inception, court further elaborated, “complaint based on which FIR was registered does not even insinuate that accused had fraudulent intention to trick prosecutrix into false promise to marry her and false promise was ever made by accused to her only to sexually exploit her”.
“In her 164 CrPC statement, prosecutrix however says that after she and the accused started loving each other, the accused called her to a restaurant at Gandhi Nagar, Jammu and made a false promise to marry her”, the court observed, adding “if at the very inception, prosecutrix got an indication that the accused actually had no intention to marry her, then despite this, why did she developed physical relation and conscious intimacy with him- is not fathomable at all”.
With these observations, court dismissed the challan and discharged the accused.