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Activists of Indian National Congress with black bands around their mouth block traffic during a protest against a gang-rape and murder of a 16-year-old girl at Madhyamgram. Bikas Das/AP/Press Association Images
Religion
Indian judge says pre-marital sex is immoral
The judge made his remarks as he acquitted a man accused of rape.
ACQUITTING A MAN of rape in the Indian capital of Delhi, a judge said that pre-marital sex is “immoral”.
According to an Al-Jazeera report, Judge Virender Bhat said that the complainant had pre-marital sex “at her own peril”. He noted that she was “grown up, educated and office-going”.
She accused the 29-year-old man of rape after he failed to fulfil a promise to marry her.
“In my opinion, every act of sexual intercourse between two adults on the assurance of promise of marriage does not become rape, if the assurance or promise is not fulfilled later on by the boy,” Bhat added during his ruling.
“She must be taken to understand the consequences of her act and must know that there is no guarantee that the boy would fulfil his promise. He may or may not do so. She must understand that she is engaging in an act which not only is immoral but also against the tenets of every religion. No religion in the world allows pre-marital sex.”
According to the Press Trust of India, the leader of the CPI has called on the Supreme Court to intervene.
Last year, a court in the city also ruled that it was immoral for couples to live together before marriage. The judge, in that case, said such developments were a “product of Western culture”.
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