NEW DELHI: Supreme Court on Wednesday turned the tables on a married woman, who sought cancellation of anticipatory bail to a man accused of raping her on promise of marriage, by warning her she might be liable for prosecution for having a physical relationship with a man other than her husband during subsistence of her marriage.When the woman’s counsel argued that the man had continued to engage in a sexual relationship with his client on the false promise of marriage, a bench of Justices M M Sundresh and N Kotiswar Singh said, “You are a married woman with two children. You are a mature person, and you understand the relationship you were getting into outside the marriage.”
When the advocate said that she was called many times to hotels and rest houses by the man for sex on the pretext of marriage, the bench asked, “Why did you go to the hotels repeatedly at his beckoning? You very well understand that you also have committed an offence by having a sexual relationship outside the marriage.”
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The bench said Patna high court was right in granting anticipatory bail to Ankit Barnwal and dismissed the plea of the woman. The trial court had refused anticipatory bail to Barnwal, who had sought relief after the woman registered a rape complaint against him.Also Read: Man arrested for raping minor sister in lawThe married woman and Barnwal had been in a relationship after knowing each other through social media in 2016. The woman had alleged that at the behest and pressure of Barnwal, she had sought divorce from her husband, which was granted by a family court on March 6.Within a fortnight of getting the divorce she allegedly asked Barnwal to marry her but he refused. She then lodged a complaint with Bihar police accusing him of sexually exploiting her in the false promise of marriage.The HC had granted anticipatory bail to Barnwal on finding from record that he had not indulged in any sexual activity with her after her divorce from her husband.
