The North Goa Fast Track Special Court has acquitted a 24-year-old man from West Bengal of rape charges, holding that the breakdown of a consensual relationship due to parental opposition on religious grounds cannot be equated with sexual exploitation or a false promise of marriage.

The court acquitted Mainul Hasan Chowdhury, a resident of Barddhaman, West Bengal, granting him the benefit of the doubt.

Chowdhury was arrested in March 2024 by the Anjuna Police following a complaint filed by a former colleague. The prosecution alleged that Chowdhury, while working as a manager at a restaurant in Anjuna, had engaged in repeated sexual intercourse with the woman between December 5 and December 28, 2023, under the false pretext of marriage.

According to court records, the complainant—an adult woman aged around 22—had interviewed for a bartender position via video call with Chowdhury in November 2023 and arrived in Goa on December 2, 2023. The two subsequently entered into a physical relationship while staying at a guest house. Later that month, the woman discovered she was pregnant. When the matter was reported to her employer, Chowdhury was dismissed from his job and lost his accommodation.

Chowdhury subsequently left Goa, fearing police action. Although the woman initially registered an FIR on January 6, 2024, she disclosed during the proceedings that family members and colleagues had urged her to pursue legal action.

During cross-examination, the complainant conceded that the relationship had been consensual and that the accused had not forced himself on her. She admitted that Chowdhury had proposed marriage and that she had accepted after making her own inquiries.
The court noted her testimony that both families had opposed the relationship solely on religious grounds—the woman being Hindu and the accused Muslim.

Relying on Supreme Court and High Court precedents, the court drew a clear distinction between a “false promise of marriage made in bad faith from the outset” and a “breach of promise occurring later due to circumstances beyond the parties’ control.”

The court observed that the prosecution had produced no evidence proving that the accused intended to deceive the complainant from the beginning. Finding that the case arose from a failed relationship rather than deceitful exploitation, the court acquitted Chowdhury.