Mumbai: Court denies bail to actor accused of raping woman on pretext of marriage

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A court in Mumbai has denied bail to an small-time actor accused of establishing physical relationship with a woman on the promise of marrying her.

Additional sessions judge Shrikant Bhosale on August 11 refused to grant pre-arrest bail to the actor. A detailed order was made available on Wednesday.

As per the prosecution, the victim woman lodged a complaint on June 10, contending that she met the accused in 2021 and they fell in love.

In October 2021, the suburban Andheri resident, an actor by profession, established a physical relationship with the woman at her residence. Their relationship continued and the woman became pregnant. However, there was natural miscarriage in July 2022, police said.

In November 2022, she once again became pregnant, following which the accused started avoiding her. However, in April 2023, the accused met the woman and went for a outing in a car. There was a quarrel between them and the accused allegedly assaulted and abused the woman, they said.

According to the woman, the accused did not want the child, the prosecution said.

Thereafter, the woman lodged a complaint, alleging that the accused had promised to marry her, but she had been deceived. The accused was arrested on June 23 and has been in judicial custody since then.

The court, after going through the documents on record, said that the complainant became pregnant from the applicant on two occasions, which prima facie shows that although the physical relationship was with consent, it was only because of the promise of a marriage, the court said.

"It is further seen that the applicant refused to marry only when he came to know that the informant (woman) is pregnant for the second time," the court said.
Thus, there is reason to believe that the applicant has committed the alleged offence," the court said.

The court then noted that on this background, it is not just and proper to release the accused on bail, especially when the investigation is in progress, it added.

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