New Delhi: In a striking observation during a bail hearing, the Supreme Court cautioned young adults against blind trust in premarital relationships, remarking that a boy and a girl remain “total strangers” before marriage and must exercise utmost circumspection before indulging in physical intimacy.
A bench comprising Justices B V Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan was hearing the bail plea of a man accused of rape on the false promise of marriage. The complainant, a 30-year-old woman, alleged that she met the accused on a matrimonial website in 2022. He allegedly lured her with marriage promises, leading to repeated physical relations in Delhi and later in Dubai, where he reportedly recorded objectionable videos without consent and threatened to make them viral. She later discovered that he was already married and had solemnised another marriage in Punjab in January 2024.
The bench noted that prima facie, the relationship appeared consensual. Justice Nagarathna observed, “Maybe we are old-fashioned, but before marriage a boy and a girl are strangers. No one should trust anyone before marriage, no matter how good or bad their relationship is.
The court questioned how the woman agreed to travel to Dubai and engage in physical relations. It suggested exploring mediation for possible settlement and asked the accused’s counsel to consider compensation for the complainant.
This order comes amid a recent Uttarakhand High Court ruling in the Suraj Bora case from Mussoorie, where the court held that a long-term consensual relationship followed by a broken marriage promise does not constitute rape under Section 376 IPC unless the promise was fraudulent from the outset and solely to obtain consent.
The observations highlight evolving judicial scrutiny in such cases, urging greater caution amid rising complaints of false marriage promises.