The Supreme Court has clarified that a married woman cannot accuse a man of rape solely on the basis of an alleged false promise of marriage, as her subsisting marriage makes any such promise legally invalid and incapable of vitiating consent.
In a ruling delivered on Thursday by Justices B V Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan, the apex court quashed criminal proceedings against a lawyer accused by a fellow woman advocate of raping her repeatedly under the pretext of marriage. The bench described the matter as “a classic case of a consensual relationship turning acrimonious,” underscoring the judiciary’s growing concern over the misuse of rape laws to settle personal disputes when consensual relationships sour.
The court observed that even assuming the accused had made a false promise of marriage to induce sexual relations, such a promise could not form the basis of a rape charge in this instance. The complainant remained legally married throughout the period of the alleged relationship, rendering her ineligible to enter into another marriage. This ineligibility arises directly from Section 5(i) of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, which prohibits marriage if either party has a living spouse.
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The bench stressed that courts must exercise utmost caution in rape cases to distinguish genuine offences from those where criminal law is invoked improperly. It reiterated established precedent that not every breach of a promise to marry constitutes rape; the offence requires proof that the promise was false from the outset with the sole intent to obtain consent for sexual acts, and that this directly influenced the woman’s consent.
The judgment highlights broader implications for the application of rape provisions under the Indian Penal Code, cautioning against their weaponization in acrimonious personal matters while preserving protections for victims of true non-consensual acts.
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