Irfan v. State of Madhya Pradesh
In the High Court of Madhya Pradesh
MCRC 25211/2021
Before Justice Shailendra Shukla
Decided on July 05, 2021

Relevancy of the Case: Bail application in a case involving allegations of rape and recording the act on the pretext of marriage

Statutes and Provisions Involved

• The Information Technology Act, 2000 (Section 66E)
• The Indian Penal Code, 1860 (Section 328, 342, 376, 312, 313, 318)

Relevant Facts of the Case

• The applicant expressed love to the prosecutrix and wanted to marry her. On 29.04.2018, the prosecutrix went for a reception, and the applicant picked her up. He took her to a one-room house, drugged and raped her while recording and taking photographs of the act on his mobile camera.
• The applicant also threatened to make the video and photographs viral if the prosecutrix didn’t continue with the physical relations.
• Marriage was solemnised, but soon after, the applicant sought an annulment.

Prominent Arguments by the Advocates

• The petitioner’s counsel submitted that the police had not recovered any photographs or video from the applicant. The counsel also stated that the prosecutrix pressurised the applicant to enter into a Nikah with her. Further, there is no reasonable explanation for the delay in lodging the FIR.
• The respondent’s counsel submitted that the applicant established physical relations only on the promise of getting married to her. When he found that the prosecutrix was pregnant; he solemnised Nikah to escape the prosecution. Therefore, The accused had clear intentions to sexually exploit the prosecutrix.

Opinion of the Bench

• The bench agreed with the petitioner’s contention that the police had not recovered any photographs or videos.
• However, it noted that the applicant solemnised the marriage only to escape prosecution from the prosecutrix.
• Sexual relations as a result of false promise to marriage amount to rape.

Final Decision

• The bail application stood rejected.

Marc Pereira, an undergraduate student at Rizvi Law College, Mumbai, prepared this case summary during his internship with The Cyber Blog India in January/February 2022.