A court in the Indian capital, Delhi, has said that pre-marital sex was "immoral1" and against the "tenets of every religion".
在印度首都新德里,一名法官在裁决一起诉讼时说,婚前性行为是“不道德”的,也违反每一种宗教的教义。
Judge Virender Bhat made the remarks after ruling that sex between two adults on the promise of marriage did not amount to
rape2.
Last year, a court in Delhi said live-in relationships were immoral and an "
infamous5 product of Western culture".
Judge Bhat presides over a fast-track court set up in the Indian capital to dispose of cases relating to sexual offences against women.
He made his latest remarks while clearing a man employed with a
multinational6 company accused of rape by a woman.
The 29-year-old man was arrested after the woman working in a different company
lodged7 a complaint of rape against him in 2011.
"In my opinion, every act of sexual
intercourse10 between two adults on the assurance of promise of marriage does not become rape, if the assurance or promise is not fulfilled later on by the boy," Judge Bhat was quoted as saying by the Press Trust of India.
"When a grown up, educated and office-going woman subjects herself to sexual intercourse with a friend or colleague on the latter's promise that he would marry her, she does so at her own
peril11. She must be taken to understand the consequences of her act and must know that there is no guarantee that the boy would fulfil his promise.
"He may or may not do so. She must understand that she is engaging in an act which not only is immoral but also against the tenets of every religion. No religion in the world allows pre-marital sex," the judge added.
In 2010, the
Supreme12 Court dismissed a number of cases against a Tamil actress who
spoke13 in support of the right of women to have pre-marital sex. The court also
endorsed14 the right of unmarried couples to live together.
Actress Kushboo was accused of "
outraging15 public
decency(正派,体面)" and 22 cases were filed against her in 2005.