A Mumbai court has released a 46-year-old man in a rape case filed by his partner, where he made the presentation of a live-in relationship agreement which convinced the judges and provided bail to him on August 29. Such claims revealed that the parties of the agreement were to refrain from lodging sexual harassment claims against each other.
The woman, an elderly caregiver aged 29, has accused the man, a government employee, of raping her severally while they were together as husband and wife. The police are now looking into the credibility of the relationship agreement that is in doubt.
While defending the man, the accused lawyer, Sunil Pandey, said the case was fraudulent and that the man was a victim of circumstances. About the rape case, he noted that both agreed to the relationship and that the contract signed by the woman actually shows consent.
In response, the woman rebutted the man’s assertions, arguing that the signature on the document was fake. The police have, however, stated that there is an ongoing process of verifying the legitimacy of the agreement afra.
The relationship agreement had certain conditions, such as the cohabitation dates from 1st August 2024 to 30th June 2025. This, in turn, allowed either party to not file for sexual harassment claims and contained provisions of living and behavior. For instance, one of them made the man immune to prosecution in the event the woman had gotten pregnant, while the other made the woman cater for ‘psychological harm’ to the man.
