"No Means No!" Lawyer quotes from Bollywood film 'Pink' in rape case hearing before Delhi High Court

While court room proceedings have been adapted into reel lives albeit in a highly dramatised manner, it is not often that reel life is invoked inside court. The Delhi High Court was, on Monday, privy to a lawyer quoting a movie dialogue while making arguments regarding 'consent in rape' [Mohd. Anwar vs State of NCT of Delhi]..Advocate Anu Narula on behalf of the complainant, quoted the iconic "No means no!" monologue from Amitabh Bachchan's speech in Tapsee Pannu starrer, Pink."Three times she was in a relationship with him. The woman admits this. If she wanted to lie, why would she admit to this also? No means no! Even if she consented to sexual intercourse with the accused ten times, but not the 11th time, it means there is no consent (the 11th time)," said Narula. .Single-judge Justice Rajnish Bhatnagar, however, ordered that the accused shall be granted bail, subject to a surety.The Court was of the view that the accused and the complainant were having a consensual affair which went sour after the non-fulfilment of promise to marry. The Court also took cognizance of the fact that the accused and the complainant were both married to their respective spouses and also had children of their own."The accused and the prosecutrix have had a 10 year long relationship prior to the incident. Later, they got married and the complainant took advantage of the situation to indulge in a relationship outside of their marriage. Bail granted"Advocate Narula, through the Delhi High Court Legal Services Committee (DHCLSC) representing the complainant, argued that her client was a married woman living alone with her three children on account of her husband working in Qatar. Narula contended that the accused had approached the complainant and they had sexual intercourse consensually upon promise of marriage. Afterwards, when the woman got pregnant, the accused gave her pills for abortion and thereafter the wife of the accused saw them together and forbade them from meeting.At this point Narula quoted the iconic dialogue from 'Pink 'and said,"Three times she was in a relationship with him. The woman admits this. If she wanted to lie, why would she admit to this also? No means no! Even if she consented to sexual intercourse with the accused ten times but not the 11th time, it means we do not have her consent." When the Court asked the complainant if she had made a complaint to anyone, Narula said, "An FIR cannot be an encyclopedia. The accused is trying to make out a case that the complainant filed the FIR because of the accused's wife."Justice Bhatnagar stated that the woman could have complained to the police or even to the accused's wife but instead she kept quiet all the while showing that she was hand-in-glove with this arrangement until the affair was thrown open to the public."Both are married and having three children each. They are very well aware of the consequences of their actions. The complainant got pregnant twice but she didn't complain then. Now, after all these years she's filing an FIR," the Court observed. Narula interjected to say,"I'm a Bollywood fan so I must advice to watch the movie Pink."Justice Bhatnagar informed her that he had in fact, seen the movie and that the situation here was quite different,"Those girls (in 'Pink') were simply eating, drinking and merry-making with the accused men. Drinking and eating is very different from this. You can't compare these things with those things. Here she's having an affair and wanted to keep things under wraps.".Is this the reel life? Man screams "tareekh par tareekh", damages equipment in Delhi Court over delay in case hearing.Advocate Vishal Raj Sehijpal represented the accused..Read order here: .Follow Bar and Bench channel on WhatsAppDownload the Bar and Bench Mobile app for instant access to the latest legal news.