No prudent woman can go to hotel room with a man during first meeting; Bombay High Court acquits man booked for rape case

MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court has said that a prudent woman cannot go to a hotel room with a man during her first meeting. The observation was made while acquitting the accused in the case of raping the woman in a hotel room and sending the visuals to her relatives.

According to the complaint, the man raped her in a hotel room. The two met on Facebook and continued their friendship over the phone. In February 2017, the man came to the college and met the woman. The man came to the college in March as well. It is during this time that a room was taken in a hotel. The man invited her saying that he had some urgent matters to discuss with her. They had consensual sex. However, the complainant alleged that the man took nude pictures of her and shared them on social media. The two separated later.

According to the complaint, the accused has sent the pictures to the woman's fiance too. However, the court pointed out that the arguments in the complaint were not entirely credible. The woman was not acquainted with the accused before they met at the hotel. The woman said that she went to the hotel room at the request of the man. This cannot be seen as the behaviour of a sensible person. If the accused takes the woman to the room for any reason, the woman could have tried to scream or escape.