- Kerala High Court has freed a man who was accused of rape by his former girlfriend
- Court has stated that just because the man failed to fulfil his promise of marrying her, it does not mean that he is a rapist
- Rape is a grave offence, and probably one of the worst in human history, trivialising it will only harm women
While making laws regarding the protection of women, the Indian legislature has completely forgotten men’s interest. In the process, misandrist politicians like Renuka Chowdhary created laws which presume that only men are criminals. But, Kerala High Court(HC) has come forward to provide relief to innocent men.
Court acquits the man accused of rape
A two-judge Bench of Kerala HC has established that a man deciding not to marry his lover does not automatically turn him into a rapist. A trial court had sentenced a man to life imprisonment on a complaint by his ex-lover that he had established a physical relationship with her against her will.
In its judgement, High Court noted: “Merely because the accused contracted another marriage immediately after the sexual act with the victim, it cannot give rise to the presumption of lack of consent.” However, the Court also said that if the accused had hidden something from the girl, then he could be held liable for raping her.
Read more: Happy International Men’s Day because Men need to be celebrated too
Ex-lover had alleged rape
Both the appellant and accused were in a consensual relationship for the last 10 years. It was argued that they had established sexual relationships only on 3 occasions. Apparently, the man had promised that he would marry her in the future. In fact, both were prepared to marry each other. However, the boy’s parents did not agree and he had to marry another woman. His ex-lover decided to prosecute him for rape.
The girl later changed the criteria on which she alleged that the man raped her. She said that it was not the case of sexual act against her will, instead, the man had established consent by falsely promising that he would later marry her.
More than 50% rape cases across Indian States are of Rape on False Promise of Marriage, filed when a man doesn't marry woman he was in relationship with
% in 2019
Odisha 88.5
Bengal 80.6
Haryana 67.1
Jharkhand 63.1
HP 59.1
UP 57.8
Karnataka 55.6
Assam 51.6#TechnicalRape pic.twitter.com/GDMIxDanes— Deepika Narayan Bhardwaj (@DeepikaBhardwaj) March 2, 2021
Rape laws are not gender-neutral
The Court was quick to point out the discrimination faced by men in these circumstances.
Explicitly stating the misandrist approach engrained in law, the Court said, “A woman, on a false promise of marrying and having sexual relationship with a man, with the consent of the latter obtained on such false promise, cannot be punished for rape. However, a man on a false promise of marrying a woman and having sexual relationship with the woman would lead to the prosecution’s case of rape. The law, therefore, creates a fictitious assumption that the man is always in a position to dominate the will of the woman.”
Read more: Mankind Pharma makes it tough for good men to come forward in society
Court went into in-depth detail
The Court also took cognizance of the duration of relationship and the circumstances in which the couple decided to engage in coitus. Hon’ble judges said that the sexual act was executed just before the couple was preparing to marry despite having a decade-old relationship.
Freeing the man of guilt, the Court said, “The prosecution evidence itself would show that there was resistance from the parents of the accused to accept the marriage without a dowry. That would show that the sexual act committed by the accused was with real intention to marry the victim and he could not hold onto his promise due to resistance from his family.”
A lot of people have questioned me over data about #TechnicalRape & disbelieved me when I say one third of rape cases in 2016 were rape on promise of marriage. This is for them.
NCRB. Table 3A.4 , Offenders Relation to Victims of RapePromise to Marry 10068
Live-in Partner 557 pic.twitter.com/in8Q6XhCUO— Deepika Narayan Bhardwaj (@DeepikaBhardwaj) August 22, 2019
Misandrist rape laws
It has become a standard trope to allege rape by girls whenever any relationship goes haywire. The extremely misandrist rape laws and procedures regarding them only make it easier for the accuser to get her way through legally threatening the man. When a woman alleges that a man has raped her, then she does not need to provide any evidence. The court assumes that whatever the girl is saying is absolute truth.
The onus of providing proof that he did not rape her falls on the accused man. Section 114-A of Indian Evidence Act clearly states this approach.
The word of a woman is believed by our laws to be sacrosanct truth, while the word of the accused man holds zero evidentiary value in these types of cases. The combination of procedures under Indian Evidence Act and Indian Penal Code makes it difficult for him to prove his innocence.
Read more: Veere di Wedding trailer in one line: Misandrist, fake and wannabe modern.
Women are misusing the rape laws meant to protect them
Time and again, misuse of rape laws had been raised as a grave concern. According to NCRB data, despite so many women favourable position, 74 per cent of alleged rape cases turn out to be false accusations. These cases are filed in order to bully a man into extorting money from him. In Indian Hindu society, respect for women is paramount and men feel shame if they are even accused of violating women’s autonomy. This is where these misandrist rape laws empower false accusers.
Read more: 74% of all rape cases filed in India are fake
Contrary to feminists calling India a rape capital of the world, Yashasvi Yadav, an IPS who follows on ground reality instead of ‘Alice in wonderland’ of feminism had recently said that India is becoming sextortion capital of the world.
The rape of a woman is one of the gravest crimes in human civilisation. Many times It is considered worse than killing a man. In fact, killing of soldiers in war draws less attention than the rape of women during war times. To trivialize such an incident is a travesty of justice. Kerala High Court just took a course of corrective measure.
