Kochi, Nov 18 The Kerala High Court, on Tuesday, said that ending a relationship or marrying someone else later does not automatically make a past consensual sexual relationship a case of rape.
Justice G. Girish said that if a man goes on to marry another person in search of "greener pastures", it does not mean that his previous consensual relationship with another woman becomes rape under the law.
The Court was hearing a petition by a man accused under Sections 376 (rape), 493 (cohabitation by deceit), and 496 (fraudulent marriage ceremony) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
The allegations against him were that he had a long-term relationship with a woman, promising to marry her, but eventually married someone else.
According to the prosecution, the relationship began in 2009, when the complainant was already married and had two children.
After her husband's death in 2013, the accused started living with her and continued the relationship.
The complainant believed they were married when he tied a knot on her gold chain in a private symbolic ceremony.
However, in 2014, the accused legally married another woman.
When confronted, he assured the complainant that he still considered her his wife.
But in 2017, he ended the relationship, following which she filed a criminal case alleging rape and fraudulent marriage.
The High Court noted that the relationship between them was clearly consensual and not induced by a fraudulent promise of marriage.
It said that for a sexual relationship to be considered rape based on a false promise of marriage, it must be proven that the man never intended to marry the woman from the beginning and only made false promises to exploit her sexually.
The court also added that their relationship started while the woman was legally married, which undermined her claim of being misled into believing she would be lawfully married to the accused.
Citing several Supreme Court judgments, the court held that consensual intimacy based on emotional involvement or future intentions does not amount to rape unless deception is proven from the outset.
Regarding the charges under Sections 493 and 496 of the IPC, the court clarified that such offences can only proceed if the aggrieved person files a formal complaint, which had not happened in this case.
The court then quashed all criminal proceedings against the man.
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