'Boy And Girl Are Total Strangers Before Marriage': Supreme Court Cautions On Pre-Marital Relations
A bench comprising Justices B V Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan was hearing bail plea of a man accused of rape on false promise of marriage.
By Sumit Saxena
Published : February 16, 2026 at 7:58 PM IST
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday said a boy and a girl are total strangers before marriage and they should be cautious while indulging in physical relationship in that period.
The matter came up for hearing before a bench comprising Justices B V Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan. The bench orally observed, "Maybe we are old-fashioned but you must be very careful, nobody should believe anybody before marriage." The bench made this observation while hearing the bail plea of a man accused of rape on a false promise of marriage.
During the hearing, woman’s counsel contended that they met on a matrimonial website in 2022 and the man allegedly established physical relations with her on a false promise of marriage on multiple occasions in Delhi and later in Dubai.
The bench questioned the woman why she travelled all the way to Dubai where they indulged in physical relationship.
The bench orally observed, "It's consensual. We may be old-fashioned but a boy and girl before marriage are total strangers. They should be circumspect in indulging in physical relationships before marriage... She should not have gone before marriage if she was so strict about it." The bench suggested that it would send the parties for mediation.
"Whatever may be the thick and thin of their relationship, we fail to understand how they can be indulging in physical relationship before marriage," observed the bench. "These are not cases which are to be tried and convicted when there is consensual relationship," it added.
The bench asked the man's counsel to pay compensation and be done with it, and also asked the woman's counsel to explore the possibility of settlement. The bench has scheduled the matter for hearing on Wednesday to examine the views of both the parties.
The woman said in Dubai, the man allegedly established physical relations with her on the false pretext of marriage and recorded intimate videos without her consent, threatening to circulate them if she resisted. The woman said that later she learnt that he had got married in January 2024 in Punjab.
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