KOCHI: The High Court on Friday said that the change in relationships among today's young adults has led to an increasing number of rape allegations after couples break up and marry others. It does not always imply that one of the partners was forced into having a sexual relationship on a false promise to marry, the court added.

The High Court's observation came after granting bail to advocate Navaneeth N Nath, a Central Government panel counsel, in a case in which he was accused of sexually abusing a colleague on a false promise to marry.

Justice Bechu Kurian Thomas granted bail to Navaneeth. "A sexual relationship only on a false promise to marry falls within the ambit of the crime of sexual abuse. Here the complainant and the accused had been in a relationship for four years. Allegation raised after the breakup cannot be considered as rape," Justice Bechu Kurian Thomas said.