Recently, the Allahabad High Court issued an order to the dean of the astrology department at Lucknow University, instructing him to provide a report on whether or not the victim in a rape case is considered to be a “manglik.”
The lone judge on the bench, Justice Brij Raj Singh, issued an order requesting that the report be filed with the court in a confidential envelope within a period of three weeks.
The judgment was made by the judge in response to a bail application that the accused had submitted in the case, in which the victim said that sexual relations had been created on the basis of a fraudulent promise of marriage.
In an effort to get relief from the high court, the defense attorney for the accused argued that the fact that the victim was a’manglik’ meant that the marriage could not be consummated and that this was also the reason why the accused had declined to marry the victim. The high court rejected both of these arguments.
The court ordered both parties to show the HOD their “kundali” within 10 days.
However, the assertion was challenged by the attorney for the victim, who asserted that the victim was not a’manglik’ and that the accused had purposefully lied to her by promising that she would not be punished.
After taking notice of the plea, the judge sitting alone on the bench made the observation that the question of whether or not the victim was a “manglik” may be resolved by the head of the astrology department at Lucknow University.
As a result, the court ordered both parties to exhibit their ‘kundali’ (also known as a horoscope or birth chart) in front of the HOD within ten days of the date of the order. Additionally, the judge instructed that a report about the subject be filed within three weeks.
According to Indian criminal law, the issue of consent is a significant one in cases involving rape. When a man has sexual relations with a woman under the false pretense that they are going to get married, this is considered to be against the woman’s will because the guy’s purpose is to trick the woman into thinking that they are going to get married.
The definition of rape that is provided in Section 375 of the Indian Penal Code does not, however, include a violation of a pledge to marry once sexual relations have been established in the victim-offender relationship. The Supreme Court has, in a string of judgments, differentiated between “false promise of marriage” and “not fulfilling the promise of marriage.”
