Marriage plan, hotel stay, then a mother’s refusal: NRI gets court relief

An NRI man from Zambia has been granted relief by the Supreme Court after facing a police case for sexual intimacy with a woman in Gujarat, following a false promise of marriage. The case began when the woman connected with the man on Facebook in November 2022. They met in person for the first time in February 2024 in Vadodara. Allegedly, the woman spent two days with the man in a hotel, and he promised marriage, leading to sexual intercourse.

The woman claimed he promised marriage by December 2024, but later in January 2025, he revealed his mother opposed the match, and he would not marry her. The man's lawyer argued a voluntary relationship, citing interactions with the woman's mother and aunt, and financial transfers to her maternal family. The Gujarat High Court rejected the police case in May, stating a distinction must be made between a good faith promise of marriage, later not fulfilled, and a fraudulent promise without intention to marry.

The High Court also deemed the mother's opposition as insufficient grounds for fraud. After challenging the High Court's decision, the Supreme Court, in a September 7th order, agreed with the complaint's lack of evidence for deceitful means and dismissed the FIR registered against the NRI man in Vadodara city.