Being friendly with a boy doesn’t give him license to force himself upon a girl: Bombay High Court

While denying anticipatory bail to a man, booked for raping a girl on the promise of marriage Justice Bharati Dangre of the Bombay High Court observed that just because a girl is friendly with a boy doesn’t give him license to force himself upon her.

"A boy should not take a girl's friendly relationship for granted and interpret it as her consent to establish a physical relationship. When a man and a woman work together in today's society, they may become close, either mentally compatible or confiding in each other as friends, ignoring the gender, because friendship is not gender-based. However, friendship with a person of the opposite sex does not give a man permission to force himself on her when she expressly refuses copulation", Justice Dangre further observed.

The single-judge bench emphasized that every woman expects “Respect” in a relationship, be it in the form of a friendship founded on mutual affection.

Court was hearing an application filed by one Ashish Chakor seeking anticipatory bail on the apprehension of getting arrested in connection with the criminal complaint filed against him at M.H.B. Colony Police Station, Mumbai.

Chakor was booked for offenses under Sections 376(2)(n), 376(2)(h), and 417 of the Indian Penal Code.

The complaint was filed by a 22-year-old girl, who was a friend of Chakor. In 2019, the two visited a mutual friend’s residence, Chakor is alleged to have forced himself on her. When she opposed it, he expressed his liking for her and made a promise to marry her.

Thereafter, on many occasions, the act was repeated and the complainant conceived and was found to be carrying a six-week pregnancy.

When she confronted Chakor with the news about her pregnancy, he refused to take up any responsibility and alleged that she was in a relationship with some other person. On repetitive requests of the complainant to marry her, he kept refusing.

Despite all this, Chakor had forcefully committed sexual intercourse with the complainant on April 24, 2022, before the complaint was lodged.

Court noted that the complainant permitted sexual relationship only after Chakor had made a promise to marry her.

“Here is the applicant, who is accused of maintaining a sexual relationship on the pretext of marriage, but when the complainant conceived, he walked out alleging that pregnancy carried by her is on account of her relationship with other persons,” the Court observed.

Court added that the accusations faced by the applicant required a thorough investigation to ascertain the version of the prosecutrix that she was forced to give her consent for sex.

Accordingly, the anticipatory bail application was dismissed.

Case Title: Ashish Chakor vs. the State of Maharashtra