India, Sept. 21 -- After a seven-year legal battle, the Belapur court acquitted a 28-year-old man who was accused in 2018 of allegedly raping and cheating on a woman under a promise to marry her. On Saturday, the court ruled that the couple's relationship had been consensual and the evidence was insufficient to convict him.

Additional sessions judge Makarand R Mandawgade acquitted the man, a resident of Navi Mumbai, who had been accused under sections 376(2) (repeated rape), and 417(cheating) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The accused was arrested in May 2018, and had been out on bail since June 2018.

According to the prosecution, the complainant worked with the accused at a garment company in Bhiwandi, in 2015. The duo were in a physi...