On Wednesday, the Delhi High Court granted bail to a man accused of ‘raping’ on ‘pretext of marriage’ a woman he had met on a dating app.
The court granted bail to the man after noting that he and the complainant-woman met on a dating app and not matrimonial app and the text messages exchanged between them did not show that any proposal of marriage was mooted by him.
“It is not in dispute that the complainant and the petitioner met on a dating App “Hinge” and not on a matrimonial App. There has been exchange of numerous WhatsApp messages between them and in none of the messages there is any promise proposal of marriage mooted petitioner,” the court observed.
“As regard the obscene photographs and videos of the prosecutrix recovered from the mobile phone of the petitioner by FSL, the prosecutrix in her cross examination has admitted that such photographs and videos were taken with her consent. In the aforesaid factual backdrop, prima facie, the sexual intercourse appears to be consensual and there does not seem to be any false promise of marriage or the consent having been obtained on a misconception of any fact,” the court added.
The Court was dealing with a plea filed by a man seeking bail in a case where he was booked under Sections 376 and 420 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The petitioner and complainant had met on dating App “Hinge”.
