Supreme Court advises caution in pre-marital relationships

The Supreme Court advised unmarried couples to be cautious in pre-marital physical relationships while hearing a bail plea in a rape case linked to a false promise of marriage. The court observed that partners should not blindly trust each other before marriage

New Delhi: The Supreme Court of India on Monday said a boy and a girl before marriage are “total strangers” and should be cautious while indulging in pre-marital physical relationships.

A Bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan, which was hearing the bail plea of a man accused of rape on a false promise of marriage, questioned the woman why she travelled all the way to Dubai, where they indulged in a physical relationship.

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“It is consensual. We may be old-fashioned, but a boy and a girl before marriage are total strangers. They should be circumspect in indulging in physical relationships before marriage,” the Bench observed.

“Whatever may be the thick and thin of their relationship, we fail to understand how they can be indulging in a physical relationship before marriage. Maybe we are old-fashioned, but you must be very careful. Nobody should believe anybody before marriage,” Justice Nagarathna said.

Counsel for the woman said they met on a matrimonial website in 2022 and he allegedly established physical relations with her on a false promise of marriage on multiple occasions in Delhi and later in Dubai.

Justice Nagarathna questioned the woman about the need for her to travel to Dubai and observed that it appeared to be a case of a consensual relationship.

“She should not have gone before marriage if she was so strict about it. We will send them to mediation. These are not cases which are to be tried and convicted when there is a consensual relationship,” she said.

Justice Nagarathna asked the counsel for the man to pay some compensation to her and settle the matter.

The Bench also asked the woman’s counsel to explore the possibility of settlement and posted the matter for hearing on Wednesday to see the views of both parties.

The woman has claimed in her complaint that, on his insistence, she travelled to Dubai where he allegedly established physical relations with her on the false pretext of marriage and recorded intimate videos without her consent, threatening to circulate them if she resisted.

The woman said that later she learnt that he had married a second woman in January 2024 in Punjab.

The Delhi High Court and the trial court had dismissed the bail application of the man.

The high court rejected bail, saying the allegations prima facie indicated that the promise of marriage was false from inception, particularly as the petitioner was already married and had married again on January 19, 2024.

Aggrieved by the high court’s order, the man approached the apex court for bail in the case.