A special court has acquitted a man charged with rape, after it found out that the woman who accused him filed an FIR because her mother discovered three ‘used condoms’ inside her bag. The woman, the court found, had consensual sex with the man and kept the condoms in her bag so she could dispose of them later, reports the Indian Express

In the FIR, it was alleged that the man established physical relations with the 20-year-old woman by promising to marry her. The court, however, found that the complaint was lodged only because the woman’s parents came to know that she had physical relations with the accused, and not because she was ‘aggrieved’ by a false promise.

Pronouncing the judgment, Additional Sessions Judge Gautam Manan said, ‘Facts of the case show that the prosecutrix (the woman) would not have lodged the FIR if her mother would not have seen the condoms… It emerges that it is difficult to impute to the accused — knowledge of the fact that the prosecutrix had consented as a consequence of a misconception — the fact that it had arisen for his promise to marry her.’

The case dates back to February this year, when the man and the woman established physical relations at a hotel.

When the woman reached home, her mother found three used condoms inside her bag. ‘Mother of the prosecutrix noticed the condoms in her bag. Then she narrated the incident to her mother, who called 100,’ the court document said.

The court said that the woman, in her deposition, admitted that even though she had met the parents of the accused, there was no talk of marriage with them.

‘The prosecutrix testified that her parents were not aware about her friendship with accused. Her testimony that no marriage talks were initiated belies her claim that she established physical relation with accused under the impression that he would marry her,’ the court observed.

The court also said that the woman’s mother came to know about her relationship with the accused only after discovering the contents of her bag.

‘She had seen them talking to each other previously but did not suspect any sexual activity between them. Prior to that, the woman never told her that she wanted to marry the accused, or that the accused had promised her that he would marry her… The testimony shows that she never had in mind any marriage proposal nor did she share it with her parents,’ the court said.

The court then observed that the woman had adequate ‘intelligence and maturity’ to understand the significance and morality associated with the ‘act she was consenting to’.