SC: Consensual sex not rape if man fails to marry
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court ruled that rape charges cannot be invoked in cases of consensual sex between live-in partners after the relationship ends and the man fails to marry the woman due to uncontrollable circumstances. In the past, there have been several cases where women had alleged being raped by their live-in partners, after the partners failed to marry them. Here's more.
What the Supreme Court observed during the ruling
Giving the ruling, a bench of Justices AK Sikri and S Abdul Nazeer observed that when live-in partners are living together out of love and having consensual sex under the promise of marriage, criminal proceedings of rape cannot be initiated against the man if the relationship breaks down and the marriage doesn't happen. Such cases would be treated as a breach of promise to marry.
Such cases need to be carefully scrutinized
"There is a clear distinction between rape and consensual sex. The court, in such cases, must very carefully examine whether the complainant had actually wanted to marry the victim or had mala fide motives and had made a false promise to this effect only to satisfy his lust," said the SC.
The ruling came during the hearing of an FIR
The ruling came while the Supreme Court quashed an FIR by a Maharashtra-based nurse against a doctor, where she had alleged rape. The couple had been in a live-in relationship for quite some time, and the nurse, in her FIR, had said that she had fallen in love with the doctor and thus began living together.
The SC overturned a Bombay HC ruling in this case
However, when the nurse, a widow, came to learn that the doctor had married someone else, she lodged an FIR alleging that she had been raped by the doctor. The man then approached the Bombay High Court, seeking to get the FIR quashed, but the HC dismissed his petition. He then approached the Supreme Court with the issue.
What were the SC's observations about the case?
"There may be a case where the prosecutrix agrees to have sexual intercourse on account of her love and passion for the accused and not solely on account of the misconception created by accused, or where an accused...was unable to marry her despite having every intention to do," observed the SC.
In which cases would sex in live-in relationships be rape?
However, while the SC quashed the FIR in this case as the facts of the case did not point towards the man being a rapist, it added a caveat to its ruling. It said that if a man enters into a live-in relationship and has sex with his partner with the promise to marry, but actually has mala fide intentions or clandestine motives, then a case for rape can be made.
