A sessions court in Maharashtra's Thane district has acquitted a 33-year-old man accused of rape and cheating, holding that a long-term sexual relationship based on a promise of marriage cannot be construed as rape if it was consensual right from the start.
Additional sessions judge Ruby U. Malvankar cleared the accused, Shahbaz Mohammad Salim Khan, a resident of Mumbra, of all charges of rape and cheating under the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Thane court acquits man accused of raping minor, says relationship appeared consensual
A copy of the order dated May 2 was made available on Sunday (May 11, 2026).
The prosecution alleged that Khan had befriended the survivor, a divorcee with two daughters, while they were working at a mall in Thane. He established sexual relations with her between 2016 and 2018 with the promise of marriage, but later reneged on the promise and threatened her.
