New Delhi, Dec 13 (IANS)

 A court here Friday sentenced an MBA student, convicted of raping his live-in partner several times after promising to marry her, to seven years jail.

Additional Sessions Judge Yogesh Khanna also slapped a fine of Rs.5,000 on 31-year-old Hari Mohan Sharma.

Recommending appropriate compensation can be awarded to the victim, the court has directed the secretary of the Delhi Legal Service Authority to decide the quantum of compensation.

By using the power of section 357A of the Code Of Criminal Procedure, the court is empowered to direct the state to pay compensation to the victim.

Sharma, from Uttar Pradesh, was accused by his partner, a law student, of raping her several times between December 2010 and January 2011 after promising to marry her.

Police said the woman had lodged a complaint in August 2011 when she became pregnant and Sharma refused to marry her, saying his parents were against her. Sharma denied raping the woman.

The court held that the intention of the accused was never honest and he kept on promising her that he would marry her.

"Concept of live-in relationship does not mean merely residing together. Rather, it means to live in a commitment or in a relation of being together in future," the court said while convicting Sharma.