MADURAI: Partly allowing an appeal preferred by a man against his conviction and sentence by the trial court in a case where he had refused to marry a woman after impregnating her, Madras high court directed him to pay Rs 5 lakh compensation to the child born out of the relationship, observing that it was the real victim in the case.
According to the prosecution, M Malaisamy of Ramanathapuram had promised to marry a woman he was in love with in his village and they had a physical relationship. However, after the woman became pregnant, he refused to marry her prompting her to lodge a complaint against him and a case was registered against him.
In 2015, the trial court at Ramanathapuram convicted and sentenced the man to undergo 10 years imprisonment for sexual assault under Section 376 of IPC and one-year imprisonment for cheating under Section 417 of IPC. Malaisamy challenged this through the present appeal before HC Madurai bench in 2015.
Justice R Pongiappan observed that it is seen that the appellant and the woman were in a relationship. The woman had consented for physical relationship with the appellant. Since the relationship was consensual, the accused need not be convicted for sexual assault.
However, the judge observed that the act of the appellant who had refused to marry the woman after impregnating her would definitely come under the purview of cheating. Hence, the judge convicted and sentenced the appellant to undergo one-year imprisonment for cheating.
The judge further observed that due to the act committed by the appellant and the woman, the child had lost the status of being a legitimate child. Observing that the real victim in this case was the child , the judge directed the man to pay Rs 5lakh relief to the child. The woman could withdraw the accrued interest once in 3 months and utilize it for the welfare of the child, said the judge.
