Establishing sexual relationship with a woman on a false promise of marriage amounts to rape, a court here has held, while sentencing a man to seven years in jail for sexually exploiting her neighbour.

“The so called consent under a false promise to marriage is no consent. Accordingly, the consent obtained in establishing physical relationship like husband and wife under false promise to marry the latter is no consent as per law,” Additional Sessions Judge Mahavir Singhal said.

Even if the woman is assumed to be a willing partner in the physical relations, the fact that the accused had no intention to marry her would make it a case where the consent was given under a misconception of fact, nullifying the efficacy of the nod, it observed in an order on Wednesday.

In the present case, convict Chhotey Lal, father of six children, had eloped with her neighbour in east Delhi on September two, 2004 and took her to various places including Jaipur and Chandigarh.

According to the girl, the duo established sexual relations after Lal assured her that he would get married to her very soon. Meanwhile, the girl’s father got a missing report lodged with the police.

Lal and the girl were detained by the police on March three, 2005 at Sarai Kale Khan Bus Terminal here,  while they returned to Delhi and the accused was prosecuted for the offences of rape after abducting the victim.

While the court acquitted Lal of the charge of abduction after noting that the girl had eloped with him on her own will, it found him guilty of the crime of rape.

“The girl was under misconception of fact that Lal would marry her, though he had no such intention despite having made promise in this regard,” the court said, awarding him a seven year jail term.