Aurangabad bench of Bombay high court
Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar : Aurangabad bench of Bombay high court has quashed a rape FIR against Panvel municipal commissioner Bharat Rathod, holding that the “essential ingredients of the offence of rape on the ground of false promise of marriage are not made out” and that forcing him to stand trial would be “nothing short of an abuse of the process of the court”. In an Oct 29 order, Justice Sushil M Ghodeswar observed that “a prolonged relationship cannot be presumed to have been founded solely on a promise of marriage” while setting aside the July 27, 2025, FIR registered at Mukundwadi police station in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, along with all consequential proceedings.
“Merely because a woman knowingly maintains a physical relationship with a person for a prolonged period, it cannot be presumed that such relationship was solely on account of an alleged promise,” Justice Ghodeswar said. The court added that the material on record showed she “continued to maintain a prolonged association and physical relationship” with the applicant. The court held that the woman’s continued relationship with Rathod, without material to show that physical relations were established solely on a false promise of marriage, was insufficient to establish consent obtained under a misconception of fact.
Justice Ghodeswar noted that the case was squarely covered by Supreme Court’s Jan 20, 2025, ruling in Prithvirajan vs State, which held that a promise to marry amounts to rape only if it was made solely to obtain consent and there was no intention to fulfil it from the outset, with the woman’s consent being directly influenced by that false promise.