The Bombay High Court has held that a woman booking a hotel room with a man and going inside it with him does not mean she consented to sexual intercourse. The observation by Justice Bharat P Deshpande said just that the woman entered the room with the man "cannot by any stretch of imagination be considered as her consent for sex."
Quashing a verdict by a lower court which closed the case against a rape accused in March 2021, the Goa bench of the Bombay High Court said though there was material to show that the accused and the complainant were instrumental in booking the room, it would not be considered as consent given by the victim for sexual intercourse.
"Even if it is accepted that the victim went inside the room along with the accused, the same cannot by any stretch of imagination be considered as her consent for sexual intercourse," Bar and Bench quoted the judge.
The trial court's verdict was that since the woman was instrumental in booking the hotel room and entered the same with the accused, she had consented to the sexual intercourse that took place inside the room.
"Drawing such an inference is clearly against the settled proposition and specifically when the complaint was lodged immediately after the incident," the High Court held in its September 3 judgment.
As per the case filed by the accused was offered private employment overseas by the accused. He allegedly deceived the woman to come to a hotel room in the guise of meeting with an agency. Both the accused and the survivor had booked the room together.
However, the survivor alleged that shortly after entering the hotel room, the accused threatened to murder her. He then raped her. She reportedly escaped when the accused went to the bathroom. She immediately informed the police.
The accused was arrested and booked under Sections 376 (rape) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
