Anticipatory bail may be granted in cases alleging sexual intercourse on a false promise of marriage if the court finds the relationship was consensual between adults, especially when the complainant is a married woman, mitigating the inference of deceitful inducement.

Order on Board

1. This first anticipatory bail application under Section 482 of the Bhartiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 has been filed by the applicant, who is apprehending his arrest in connection with Crime No.706/2026 registered at Police Station – Sakri, District- Bilaspur (C.G.) for the offence punishable under Sections 69 and 87 of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (for short ‘BNS’).

Digitally signed by KRISHNA KUMAR BARVE Date: 2026.08.26 14:54:12 +0530

2. The prosecution story, in brief, is that the complainant/victim was previously known to the present applicant and, on the pretext of marriage, the applicant allegedly induced her to accompany him along with her three minor children on 22.06.2026 from Uslaapur, Bilaspur. It is alleged that the applicant thereafter took the complainant and her children towards Indore and, during the period thereafter, took them to different places including Indore, Bhopal, Vadodara, Surat and Dongargarh. The prosecution alleges that during the said period, the applicant established physical relations with the complainant against her will and without her consent. The prosecution further alleges that the Applicant had repeatedly represented to the complainant that he would marry her and, on the strength of such representation, took her away from her matrimonial home. It is alleged that on 22.06.2026, the Applicant took the complainant and her three children by cab towards Indore and thereafter continued to travel with them to different places. The complainant has alleged that despite her resistance, the Applicant continued to establish physical relations with her and also threatened her with regard to her children. The prosecution further alleges that on 26.07.2026, at about 04:00 A.M., the Applicant left the complainant and her children at a hotel at Dongargarh and thereafter proceeded towards Bilaspur. On the basis of the written complaint submitted by the complainant on 27.07.2026, Police Station Sakri, District Bilaspur registered Crime No. 706 of 2026 for the offences punishable under Sections 69 and 87 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023. Hence, the bail application.

3. Learned counsel for the applicant submits that the applicant is innocent and has been falsely implicated in the present case. He further submits that allegations contained in the FIR, even if taken at their face value, require careful scrutiny in the light of the surrounding circumstances, the prior acquaintance between the parties and the contemporaneous conduct of the complainant and the Applicant. The Applicant is a married man having an established family and has consistently maintained that he had no intention or occasion to abandon his existing matrimonial relationship or his family. The circumstances of the present case, therefore, require appreciation in their proper factual context and cannot be reduced to the allegations contained in the FIR alone. The Applicant submits that the present case is not one where the allegation, by itself, warrants the custodial deprivation of his personal liberty. In the present case, the Applicant categorically denies having established any physical relationship with the victim and, therefore, the very foundational allegation of sexual intercourse remains disputed. The Applicant further specifically denies having made any dishonest or deceitful inducement on the false pretext of marriage, and the surrounding circumstances do not disclose any material warranting an inference that any alleged promise of marriage was false or deceitful from its inception. Even otherwise, the essential ingredients of Section 69 of the BNS are prima facie not attracted against the Applicant. Section 69 applies where sexual intercourse is alleged to have been obtained by deceitful means or by making a promise to marry to a woman without any intention of fulfilling the same. In the present case, the Applicant's consistent case is that he never made any false promise of marriage with a dishonest inten