India, Oct. 5 -- The Delhi High Court has held that a consensual relationship during the courtship period does not by itself give rise to criminal liability merely because one party later chooses not to marry. The ruling came while granting bail to a man accused of engaging in sexual relations under a false promise of marriage.

Justice Arun Monga, in an eight-page order delivered on September 26 and released later, observed, "The very purpose of courtship or interaction prior to marriage is to assess mutual compatibility. To suggest that a person cannot change their mind after such interaction would defeat the essence of the concept itself."

To be sure, by "interaction," the court clarified, it meant normal social and personal communica...