Horoscopes no excuse to go back on marriage promise: HC
The Bombay High Court refused to discharge a 32-year-old man from a rape and cheating case noting that he had used astrological incompatibility of horoscopes as an excuse to resile from his promise to marry the complainant woman with whom he was in a relationship. A single bench of Justice SK Shinde on Monday rejected the application filed by Avishek Mitra.
A cheating and rape case has been registered against Mitra
Mitra was seeking to be discharged from the cheating and rape case registered against him by the suburban Borivali Police on a complaint lodged by the woman. The order was made available on Tuesday. Mitra's advocate Raja Thakare had argued that the relations between the accused and the complainant could not be taken further due to "astrological incompatibility."
Thakare argued that the case was of breach of promise
He argued that this was not a case of cheating and rape under the false pretext of marriage but a case of breach of promise. Justice Shinde, however, refused to accept this contention and noted that there was material to suggest that since the beginning the accused had no intention of upholding his promise to marry the complainant.
Accused had no intention of marrying the woman: Judge
"It is apparent that the applicant (Mitra) in the guise of astrological incompatibility of horoscopes, avoided the promise (of marriage). Thus, I am convinced that it is a case of false promise to marry which apparently vitiates the complainant's consent," the bench said.
Accused and complainant knew each other since 2012
Justice Shinde further noted that prima facie the court was of the view that Mitra assured the complainant that he would marry her when she approached the police just to avoid a case against him. As per the case details, the accused and complainant knew each other since 2012 when they were working in a five-star hotel and were in a relationship.
Mitra had also forced the complainant to abort her pregnancy
The complainant had alleged that on several occasions the accused had indulged in physical relations with her by promising marriage. She claimed that when she had conceived and asked Mitra to marry her he refused saying they were still young and forced her to abort the pregnancy. In December 2012, when the accused started avoiding her, she lodged a police complaint.
Mitra's promise to marry her wasn't false, Thakare had argued
Thakare had argued that there was no intent on Mitra's part not to marry the complainant or that his promise to marry her was false. Had his intentions been true, Mitra wouldn't have resiled from his promise to marry the complainant later, the bench said.
