Bombay HC stated woman booking hotel room with a man does not imply her consent to intercourse
Reportedly the goa Bench of the bombay high court stated that a woman booking a hotel room and entering it with a man does not imply her consent to sexual intercourse with him. A single judge bench led by Justice Bharat P Deshpande dismissed a discharge order passed by the Margao Trial court in march 2021, by which a rape case against the accused, Gulsher Ahmed, had been closed. In its discharge order, the trial court had remarked that since the woman was involved in the booking of the hotel room and entered the same with the accused, it implies that she gave her consent for the sexual activity. Therefore, the accused cannot be charged with rape, the trial court said in its march 2021 order.Meanwhile “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 which was made public recently. The high court added “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”.Moreover acting on the complaint, the police arrested the accused and charged him under Sections 376 (rape) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the indian Penal Code (IPC). The trial court discharged the accused holding that since the woman had voluntarily gone inside the room, she had consented to sexual intercourse. However, after three years, the bombay high court dismissed the discharge order, citing an “error" in the trial court’s judgement.