The Kerala High Court, on Wednesday, 6 April, acquitted a man who was earlier convicted of raping a woman by a trial court. The high court stated that sex on the promise to marry will tantamount to rape only if the victim's decisional autonomy (freedom of choice) has been violated.
Justices A Muhamed Mustaque and Kauser Edappagath, deciding in favour of the appellant, a 35-year-old man, held that the case was not one of forcible sexual act as against the victim's will but it was a sexual act on the promise to marry where consent is implicit, reported PTI.
Setting aside the sentence of life imprisonment given by the trial court, the HC, in its 30 March order, noted that the victim and accused were in a relationship longer than 10 years, while the sexual act took place just before the marriage preparation was made.