How Indian women tricked into sex with promises of marriage seek justice

On a cold January night, Akanksha Mehta’s phone rang with a text message that would change her life.

A romantic couplet from a popular Bollywood song, Sunn Raha Hai Na Tuu (Are You Listening?), appeared in her Instagram inbox, followed by a friend request.

The sender was 27-year-old Abhishek Jandial, also known as Lucky, from the city of Jaipur in the northern Indian state of Rajasthan.

Intrigued, Ms. Mehta, a 23-year-old student, accepted the request. Their online conversations quickly blossomed into a real-world romance, with dates at local restaurants and walks in the park.

“He promised to treat me like a princess,” Ms. Mehta recalls, her voice heavy with regret. “But I ended up feeling like a sex slave.”

Mr. Jandial, who claimed to be from a rich family, promised her marriage. “I believed him and after a year of dating, I had sex with him and got pregnant,” Ms Mehta said.

But when she shared the news of her pregnancy, her boyfriend’s facade crumbled and he abruptly ended the relationship.

‘I was deceived. was married

“I was deceived. He was a married man all along with no intention of marrying me. He lured me into premarital sex,” Ms Mehta told The Telegraph.

In most countries, this would be an unfortunate story with little chance for the victim to seek justice.

But under India’s new rape laws, men who lure women into sex with the promise of marriage face 10 years in prison.

In July, India’s government updated its colonial-era laws on rape, introducing rules on relationships contracted under false pretenses in section 69 of the reform.

Ms Mehta told her lawyer to press Section 69 of the new penal code against Jandial and seek maximum punishment.

“I was afraid he would get away with having consensual sex between two adults, but the new law has given me a new lease of life,” she said.

“There should be capital punishment for men who lure women with false promises of marriage and withdraw after sex. I wish he rots in jail forever for ruining my life.”

Ms. Mehta discovered the extent of her betrayal when she reminded Mr. Jandial of his promise of marriage. On April 30, after several angry rows, he came to her house and promised to bring his parents later to arrange a marriage.

But soon he ran away again and cut off all contact. It was only after Ms Mehta lodged a complaint against him with the Rajasthan police that he was found, living in the city with his wife, and arrested.

The law of fear could be misused

Some experts fear that India’s new sweeping rape law could be misused against men.

Sagina Walyat, a constitutional rights and human rights lawyer at the Punjab and Haryana High Court, said women who feel wronged in a relationship can easily use it to take revenge.

“The law is based on a woman’s presumptions (about a relationship). In such cases, the burden of proof is on the accused,” she said. “It is very convenient for women to go and say that this (sexual abuse) has happened and we have already had many cases of this.”

Shortly after the new code was implemented, a court in the Indian state of Kerala acquitted a man who had been similarly accused by a woman of having sex with her under false pretenses.

“If the materials would show that the relationship is purely consensual without an element of misconception of the fact, the same is not rape,” his July 9 verdict said.

The key question examined by the court was “whether in the beginning there is mutual consent to have intercourse or the same is under a misapprehension of the fact, on promise of marriage or otherwise”.

The court found no evidence to indicate in this case that the plaintiff’s consent was based on a misunderstanding.

Victims may be reluctant to press charges

The conservative nature of Indian society may mean that few women choose to take advantage of the new legislation, said Satwinder Satti, president of Abb Nahi, an organization that helps abandoned women.

“The truth is that girls in India who are cheated by men generally don’t want to go to court because it affects their future marriage prospects,” she said. “Parents never allow it because they fear it might bring shame to the family.

“Another problem is that once a case is reported, it drags on endlessly in the courts, which acts as a dampener for victims who might otherwise seek legal redress.”

Audrey Dmello, director of Majlis Law, a women’s rights group in India, was more hopeful for reform.

“Previously, there were a lot of cases of ‘promise of marriage’ registered, but they were registered as rape. This has created total confusion,” she told The Telegraph.

“People will say that this is not rape or that it is not against her consent. But now, the government has removed it and made it a separate section,” she said.

“So one will actually be able to see more clearly how big this problem is. Otherwise it was hidden among the rape cases.

“The number of rape cases was increasing and we failed to address both issues separately. This will now change.”

*Some names have been changed

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