Patna: The Patna high court has quashed criminal proceedings in a case alleging rape on the pretext of marriage, ruling that the prosecution was misconceived and amounted to an abuse of the legal process.
A single-judge bench of Justice Soni Srivastava set aside an order of the sessions court in a case registered at Jagdishpur police station in Bhagalpur district, where charges had been framed under section 376 of the Indian Penal Code.
The case related to Jagdishpur police station case No 121 of 2019, in which the complainant alleged that the accused had maintained a physical relationship with her for about a year on the false promise of marriage. The defence contended that both individuals were consenting adults and that the relationship was voluntary.
In its judgment, the high court observed that the woman’s statement, medical evidence and other material on record did not establish that the promise of marriage was false from the very beginning. The court drew a clear distinction between a deliberate false promise made to obtain consent and a situation where a relationship ends without culminating in marriage.
“A false promise and the subsequent failure of marriage are two different things,” the court said, adding that the mere fact that a marriage did not take place cannot, by itself, amount to rape.
The bench cautioned against giving a criminal colour to failed consensual relationships, noting that criminal law should not be used as a tool to settle personal disputes. Referring to recent Supreme Court rulings, the court held that the essential ingredients of the offence of rape were prima facie absent in the present case.
Accordingly, the high court set aside the order of the additional sessions judge rejecting the accused’s discharge plea and quashed the entire criminal proceedings, bringing the case to an end.
