India, March 21 -- A girl's friendliness, even on Valentine's Day, cannot be construed as a license for forcibly establishing sexual relations, the Delhi High Court observed on Friday while denying bail to a man accused of raping a 17-year-old girl after allegedly applying vermilion to her hair parting without her consent.

The case arose from an FIR registered in 2025, in which the survivor alleged that the accused - whom she had known over the phone for about a year - called her to his house on Valentine's Day, allegedly applied vermilion to her hair parting, and established sexual relations with her without her consent. The FIR was registered against the man under the relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and the Pro...