NEW DELHI, Nov 8, 2009 (AFP) - A New Delhi judge told Indian women to beware of men who promise marriage after a prospective bride accused her lover of rape because he failed to propose, a newspaper said Sunday.

The unnamed woman said she had effectively been raped because she only agreed to sleep with Arif Iqbal, 22, on the understanding that they would soon be man and wife, the Hindustan Times reported.

However Justice Kailash Gambhir said the woman, 23, had to accept the consequences after Iqbal went back on his vow to wed her.

"Mere promise of marriage should not have prompted (the victim) to establish a physical relationship with the accused," Gambhir said.

"It is the prime responsibility of the women to protect her modesty. A women should not throw herself to a man and indulge in promiscuity."

The judge's statement was likely to anger women's rights groups in conservative India after other recent court verdicts backed the charge that a false promise of marriage did amount to rape.

The court heard that the couple had slept together for a year, having first had sex at the woman's family home after putting drugs in her parents' tea to make them fall asleep, the paper said.