GUWAHATI: The Supreme Court has expressed concern on October 30, over the growing trend of criminal cases being filed after relationships between consenting adults break down, observing that physical intimacy during a consensual relationship cannot retrospectively be termed rape merely because the relationship ends.
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In a significant judgment on Friday, a bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and R Mahadevan discharged a Kerala-based man of charges of rape, cheating and marrying again while his first marriage was still subsisting.
The bench said courts must discourage the misuse of criminal law following emotional disputes between consenting adults and assess the entire relationship rather than viewing it only from the circumstances of its breakdown.
“Physical intimacy that occurred during the currency of a functioning relationship cannot be retrospectively branded as acts of rape merely because the relationship soured and no longer subsists,” the court observed.
The court also highlighted the need to distinguish between consent obtained through deception from regret over consensual sexual acts after a relationship ends. It clarified that the breakdown of a relationship or regret over past intimacy alone cannot establish an offence of rape.
However, the bench stressed that genuine cases of sexual assault, coercion and manipulation of consent must be pursued seriously, noting that rape remains a heavily underreported crime.
The court cautioned against turning the criminal justice system into a tool of vengeance after failed relationships, while emphasising that allegations must be assessed on the basis of facts and evidence.
The judgment came after the man challenged a Kerala High Court order that had dismissed his plea seeking discharge and quashing of criminal proceedings against him.
