A Maharashtra court has acquitted a 36-year-old man of charges of cheating and raping his live-in partner on the pretext of marriage, observing that their relationship does not come under the definition of rape. S A Sinha, the district judge in her order last on Thursday stated the prosecution miserably failed to prove the charges against the accused, Shweta Vijay Kamal Sinha, a resident of neighbouring Mumbai, and he needs to be freed.

According to the prosecution, the 39-year-old woman, a resident of Mira Road who ran a salon, came in contact with the accused in 2001 and they got into a relationship. The man insisted they continue their relationship and promised to marry her. He was jobless hence the woman used to help him financially, the prosecution said. When the woman finally asked him for marriage, he disregarded the proposal with excuses like their different castes and she being elder to him.