'Don't Trust Anyone' : Supreme Court Advises Caution In Physical Relations Before Marriage

The Supreme Court on Monday orally remarked that before marriage, a boy and a girl are strangers and hence there should be circumspection before indulging in pre-marital physical relationship before marriage. The Court was hearing the bail plea of a man accused of rape on a false promise of marriage. A bench of Justice BV Nagarathna and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan was dealing with the bail plea of a man who is alleged to have lured the complainant by assuring her that he would marry her, even though he was already married and later married another woman. “Maybe we are old fashion but before marriage a boy and a girl are strangers. Whatever may be the thick and thin of their relationship. We fail to understand how they can be indulging in physical relationship before marriage. Maybe we are old fashioned…You must be very careful, nobody should believe anybody before marriage”, Justice Nagarathna said. The prosecution case is that the complainant, aged about 30 years, met the petitioner on a matrimonial website in 2022 and that he allegedly established physical relations with her on the promise of marriage on multiple occasions in Delhi and later in Dubai. The complainant has claimed that on his insistence, she travelled to Dubai where he allegedly established physical relations with her on the pretext of marriage and recorded intimate videos without her consent, threatening to circulate them if she resisted. The complainant later learnt that he had married a second wife on January 19, 2024 in Punjab. During the hearing of his bail plea, Justice Nagarathna questioned why the complainant travelled to Dubai to meet the petitioner. When the government counsel highlighted that the two met on a matrimonial website and were planning to marry, the judge observed that if the woman was particular about marriage, she should not have travelled before it. Justice Nagarathna said that these cases are not suitable for trial and conviction and suggested that the parties be referred to mediation. “She should not have gone before marriage if she was so strict about it. We will send them to mediation. These are not cases which are to be tried and convicted when there is consensual relationship”, she said. The matter was kept on Wednesday to explore the possibility of settlement. Last year, the Sessions Court and the Delhi High Court dismissed the petitioner's bail applications. On November 18, 2025, the High Court rejected bail holding that the allegations prima facie indicate that the promise of marriage was false from inception, particularly as the petitioner was already married and had married again on January 19, 2024. Relying on various precedents, the High Court emphasised that consent obtained on a false promise of marriage may be vitiated if the promise was made in bad faith and without intention to marry. Thus, the petitioner filed the present SLP before the Supreme Court. Case no. – SLP(Crl) No. 20842/2025 Case Title – Y K v. State Govt. of NCT of DelhiRelated - Difficult To Believe Married Woman Was Induced Into Sex With False Marriage Promise : Supreme Court Quashes Rape Case

'Don't Trust Anyone' : Supreme Court Advises Caution In Physical Relations Before Marriage

Amisha Shrivastava

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