The Goa Bench of the Bombay High Court has clarified that a woman booking a hotel room with a man and entering it with him cannot be treated as consent for sexual intercourse.
Justice Bharat P Deshpande, delivering the judgment, stated that even if the woman had gone inside the hotel room with the accused, this act could not be interpreted as her consent for sex. The Court ruled that assuming otherwise goes against established legal principles, especially when the survivor had lodged her complaint immediately after the incident.
The case relates to a March 2020 incident where the accused allegedly lured the woman with the promise of overseas employment. After booking a hotel room together, the accused allegedly threatened and raped her. The woman managed to escape when the accused went to the bathroom and immediately informed the police.
The accused was arrested under Sections 376 (rape) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). However, in March 2021, the trial court discharged him, reasoning that since the woman had voluntarily booked and entered the hotel room, she had consented to sexual intercourse.
The High Court rejected this reasoning, stressing that entering a hotel room cannot automatically mean consent to sex. The judge observed that the trial court had wrongly mixed two separate issues — going into the room without protest and giving consent to sexual activity. The survivor’s immediate complaint, supported by hotel staff’s testimony, proved that the act was not consensual.
Accordingly, the High Court set aside the trial court’s discharge order and restored the rape trial against the accused.
Case Title: State through Canacona Police Station v. Gulshar Ahmed
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