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Kochi, Nov 18 (IANS) Dissolving a relationship or subsequently marrying someone else does not automatically make previous consensual sexual relations a case of rape, the Kerala High Court said on Tuesday.
Justice G. Girish said that if a man marries another person in search of “green areas”, it does not mean that his previous consensual relationship with another woman becomes rape under the law.
The court was hearing the plea of a man accused under sections 376 (rape), 493 (fraudulent intercourse) and 496 (fraudulent marriage ceremony) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
He was accused of maintaining a long-term relationship with a woman by promising to marry her, but eventually he married someone else.
According to the prosecution, the relationship began in 2009, when the complainant was already married and had two children.
After the death of her husband in 2013, the accused started living with her and continued the relationship.
When the complainant tied a knot on her gold chain in a private symbolic ceremony, she believed that they were married.
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, she ended the relationship, following which he filed a criminal case accusing her of rape and fraudulent marriage.
The High Court said that the relationship between them was clearly consensual and was not motivated by a fraudulent promise of marriage.
It says that for sexual intercourse based on a false promise of marriage to be considered rape, it has to be proved that the man had no intention of marrying the woman from the beginning and had made false promises only to sexually exploit her.
The court also said that their relationship began when the woman was legally married, thereby weakening her claim that she was misled into believing that she would be legally married to the accused.
Citing several Supreme Court judgments, the court said that consensual intimacy based on emotional attachment or future intentions does not amount to rape unless deception is proved from the very beginning.
With regard to charges under sections 493 and 496 of the IPC, the court clarified that such offenses can proceed only if the victim files a formal complaint, which did not happen in this case.
After this the court quashed all criminal proceedings against the person.
–IANS
SG/KHz