HC Refuses To Discharge Rape Accused Who Cited ‘Astrological Incompatibility’ To Go Back On Marriage Promise

Earlier on Monday, a single bench of Justice S.K. Shinde rejected an application filed by Avishek Mitra seeking to be discharged from the cheating and rape case registered against him.

Bombay High Court

Mumbai: Refusing to discharge a man from a rape and cheating case, the Bombay High Court noted that he had used astrological incompatibility of horoscopes as an excuse to resile from his promise to marry the complainant with whom he was in a relationship.

Earlier on Monday, a single bench of Justice S.K. Shinde rejected an application filed by Avishek Mitra seeking to be discharged from the cheating and rape case registered against him.

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The cheating and rape case against the man was registered by the suburban Borivali Police on a complaint lodged by the woman.

The order in this case was made available on Tuesday.

Mitra’s advocate Raja Thakare had argued that the relations between the accused and the complainant could not be taken further due to “astrological incompatibility”, PTI reported.

The 32-year-old man’s advocate argued that this was not a case of cheating and rape under the false pretext of marriage but a case of breach of promise.

Refusing to accept this contention, Justice Shinde noted that there was material to suggest that the accused since the beginning had no intention of upholding his promise to marry the complainant.

Justice Shinde noted that the court was prima facie of the view that Mitra assured the complainant that he would marry her when she approached the police just to avoid a case against him.

The accused and complainant, as per the details of this case, knew each other since 2012 when they were working in a five-star hotel and were in a relationship.

Alleging that the accused had on several occasions indulged in physical relations with her by promising marriage, the complainant also claimed that when she had conceived and asked him to marry her.

She added that the accused then refused while stating they were still young and forced her to abort the pregnancy.

The woman lodged a police complaint earlier in December 2012 when the accused started avoiding her.

Mitra was then called by the police and counselled along with the woman. He told the police in January 2013 that he would marry the woman.

The accused, however, backtracked within a few days following which the police registered a case of rape and cheating, according to the prosecution.