BENGALURU: Declining to quash the charges of criminal intimidation and cheating against a 25-year-old man for breach of promise of marriage after having a physical relationship by threatening the victim, taking advantage of her strained relationship with her husband, the High Court of Karnataka has directed him to pay maintenance to the child born out of wedlock at Rs 10,000 a month till the conclusion of the trial.
Justice M Nagaprasanna passed the order while partly allowing a petition filed by accused Raghavendraraddi from Gadag district, questioning the complaint filed by a 26-year-old woman.
The court said that the statements recorded and the DNA report establish that the child was born due to the acts of the accused and the victim and now the victim is left in the lurch as she neither has the support of her husband with whom her relationship has completely strained nor the accused, who now wants to marry another woman. In the fight between the accused and the victim, the innocent child is caught. Therefore, as it is found that the accused is the biological father, he now cannot shirk his responsibility of looking after the child, the court observed.
The court, however, quashed the charges of rape as consensual sex or the sexual act on the promise of marriage would not attract charges of rape.
The accused and the victim claim to have been in love since 2018 and have had a physical relationship as well. The victim married another person in 2021 while still being in a relationship with the accused. As the relationship with her husband strained, she returned to her parents.
It was at that time when the accused allegedly lured her to continue the relationship. It was also alleged that the accused promised to marry her if she left her husband and had a physical relationship with her. As she conceived out of wedlock and came to know that the accused was planning to get married to someone else, she filed a police complaint.