If a man has consensual sex with a woman after promising to marry her but later retracts, it amounts to rape, the Delhi High Court has said.

Dismissing the anticipatory bail application of one Firoz Ahmed, who had sexual relations with a widow, Justice Kailash Gambhir held that retracting from a promise of marriage after consensual sex would tantamount to rape. Ahmed was booked under IPC sections 376 (rape) and 506 (criminal intimidation) following a complaint lodged by the woman.

The judge agreed with the view of the trial judge, who had dismissed Ahmed’s bail application, saying that the woman’s consent was obtained under the pretext of marriage and that the intention of the accused from the beginning was not to marry her.

Justice Gambhir upheld prosecution’s argument that Ahmed did not deserve bail as the offence fell under IPC section 375(4), which states that consent for sex obtained under a false pretext also amounts to rape.