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Setting aside a Trial Court order, Bombay High Court has noted that a person refusing to marry after staying in long physical relation will not amount to the offence of cheating.

The court has acquitted the man of cheating charges. The court was hearing the petition filed by the accused man challenging Trial court order.

A woman had alleged that the accused had made physical relations over the pretext of marriage but later refused to marry her.

After the woman reported the incident, the police lodged a case against Palghar resident Kashinath Gharat. He was booked under Section 376 (rape) and Section 417 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code.

On February 19, 1999, Additional Session Judge had acquitted Kashinath of rape charges. However, ASJ held him guilty of cheating.

The Trial Court had sentenced him to one year of rigorous imprisonment.

Kashinath had challenged the Trial Court order in Bombay High Court. Taking note of all the submissions, the single judge bench of Justice Anuja Prabhudai has acquitted him of cheating charges too.

As per the facts, the woman and the accused were in a three-year-long physical relationship and they had an affair, noted Justice Prabhudesai. She added that it doesn’t appear from the woman’s statement that she was deceived in any way.

The High Court bench also referred to the Supreme Court decisions. Justice Prabhudesai stated that it needed to be proved that the wrong facts were presented before the woman while making a promise to marry her which later turned out to be false.

The court further added that there are two things that need to be proved in the court. The first one is when the promise of marriage was made along with the wrong piece of information. The second one is that the whole promise was wrong and the woman has agreed to make physical relations only over that promise.

The High Court bench noted that there is no evidence to prove that the man was not willing to marry her. It observed that there are no sufficient facts to support the allegations that the accused had convinced her to have physical relations by providing the wrong information. Therefore, he cannot be held guilty of cheating for refusing to marry after a long relationship.


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