The Kerala High Court on Thursday reiterated that if a man retracts his promise to marry a woman, the consensual sex they have had will not constitute rape unless it is established that the consent was obtained by him by giving false promise of marriage with no intention of adhering to it, and that promise made was false to his knowledge.
Quashing a rape case against a 33-year-old man, Justice Kauser Edappagath said the relationship between the accused and the complainant appears to have been purely consensual in nature. There is no allegation that when he promised to marry her, it was done in bad faith or with the intention to deceive her, said the court.
“The admitted fact that the 4th respondent [complainant] is having a relationship with the petitioner since 2010 and she continued the relationship knowing about his marriage from 2013 onwards would nullify the story regarding the sexual intercourse on the false pretext of marrying her,”
“The alleged sex can only be termed as one on account of love and passion for the petitioner and not on account of misrepresentation made to her by the petitioner. Therefore, even if the facts set out in the FIS [First Information Statement] are accepted in totality, no offence u/s 375 of IPC is not made out.
Case Title: Sreekanth Sasidharan v. State of Kerala & Ors. Citation: 2022 LiveLaw (Ker) 514
