The sessions court recently sentenced a 42-year-old Dombivali resident to 10 years imprisonment for repeatedly raping a woman by promising to marry her and dishonestly withdrawing ₹1.5 lakh from her account. The man’s promise with the intention to deceive and convince the woman to engage in sexual relations vitiates her consent, observed the court.
The convict, Jayendra Moranjan, met the woman, a nurse, on a matrimonial website. In June 2016, Moranjan emailed her with a marriage proposal. He then took her to Shirdi and his sister’s place, claiming to seek blessings before marriage. During their outdoor stays this time, she alleged that he raped her multiple times. Later that month, when the duo went to watch a movie in a mall, Moranjan used her ATM card to withdraw money without her knowledge. When she noticed her ATM card missing that night, he confessed to using it as he needed some money. He however did not return the ATM card. The lying came to an end after the victim found that he had withdrawn ₹1.5 lakh from her bank account between June 24, 2016 and July 5, 2016, without her knowledge. When she confronted him, he allegedly began threatening and abusing her. After the accused failed to show up on their wedding day, she approached the Vile Parle police. An FIR was registered on July 17, 2016 for rape and cheating against Moranjan and he was arrested two days later.
Moranjan’s advocate argued that as he never refused to marry, it cannot be said that he raped her under the pretext of marriage. The defence challenged the evidence by stating that the prosecution failed to examine the staff of the resort where the alleged incident took place. The prosecution was able to prove that the accused withdrew ₹1.5 lakh, which he failed to return despite several assurances.
Rejecting the defence, the court observed that the woman did not take any action against him initially because she was made to believe he would marry her. “It has also been proven that her consent for the same had been obtained by deceiving her,” held the court. The court noted that the man had trapped the woman in a web of his lies, causing her to believe that he would return the money and marry her.
Additional sessions judge SJ Ansari sentenced the man to a minimum of 10 years imprisonment, observing that “it does not appear that the accused is a person beyond repair” and directed him to pay a fine of ₹75,000. He was also sentenced to seven years for cheating, but the sentences will run concurrently.
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