Mumbai: The Bombay high court has quashed a 2019 rape case against a man after observing that the woman had earlier filed around four similar FIRs apart from a few cases of alleged sexual assault against different men, in one of which the accused stood acquitted, beside cruelty cases against two husbands. The HC said facts would indicate that the alleged 34-year-old victim was in the “habit of making false and baseless complaints’’ over rape and sexual assault charges under the erstwhile Indian Penal Code.Justice R R Bhonsale, in a Feb judgment, made available on Friday, directed the Maharashtra Director General of Police to furnish details of the woman to all police stations in Maharashtra to ensure they are cautious if she files any other rape case against any other individual.HC order said it has to be kept in mind that the woman “has totally filed 10 FIRs…, out of which at least four criminal prosecutions are of section 376 (rape) of the Indian Penal Code, wherein the allegations are same or similar in at least two criminal prosecutions.”The accused, a Thane-based 30-year-old man, had filed a petition to quash the FIR lodged by a woman. The FIR alleged she was on a tour and the accused a allegedly proposed marriage to her within four days, and on two occasions, once abroad, forced himself on her and when he refused to marry her 10 days later, she lodged the FIR.His lawyer Arjun Kadam argued the case was concocted and the woman, a habitual complainant, who was twice married had filed cases against both in another state.The HC heard S V Walve, additional public prosecutor for the state, and observed that despite being served, the woman was not represented. Even a legal aid lawyer appointed for her, “remained absent’’ and she “was not ready to accept the notice in person or through the local police station.’’The HC said she “has chosen to remain absent for reasons best known to her.”The HC observed that relations after a promise to marry do not amount to rape in every case. As held by the Supreme Court, an offence of rape would be attracted only when the promise to marry was made solely for intimacy with no intention from inception to fulfil the promise.“This is a classic case of malafide and malicious misuse of the process of law for personal benefit,’’ said the HC and quashed the FIR against the man, finding that no case of rape on false pretext of marriage, was evident.The HC directed police to strictly apply the law and conduct preliminary inquiry before registering any crime in future from her.
