The Karnataka Excessive Court docket has noticed {that a} consensual relationship that breaks down can’t be the supply of a felony offence besides underneath sure circumstances. The order was pronounced Saturday by Justice M Nagaprasanna, who quashed proceedings associated to rape towards a person residing in Bengaluru.
The case pertains to a few who had met over a relationship app and saved in contact for some years, sending photographs and messages to one another over social media. They met one another in August final yr and allegedly obtained bodily intimate at a resort in Bengaluru. Two days later, the girl filed a criticism alleging rape after having undergone a medical examination.
Quashing the proceedings, the bench said, “A relationship born of mutual volition, even when it founders in disappointment, can’t, save in clearest of circumstances, be transmuted into an offence underneath the felony regulation. If the current prosecution have been permitted to meander right into a trial, it could be nothing however a ritualistic procession in direction of miscarriage of justice.”
The girl, in her criticism, had alleged that the accused had refused to take heed to her, although she had withdrawn her consent for intimacy. The person had approached the excessive courtroom to quash the proceedings after the chargesheet was filed.
The person’s counsel said that the allegation was false, citing that images, movies, and messages have been exchanged between the 2 through social media, which have been intentionally excluded from the chargesheet. It was additionally argued that they’d each been actively speaking on a relationship app for a while.
Opposing the petitioner’s argument, the state counsel mentioned that it was a case of sexual assault, and the query of whether or not or not there was consent needed to be established by a trial.
The courtroom, nevertheless, agreed with the petitioner’s argument, noting that whereas the chats couldn’t be quoted within the order as it could not be in good style, they did point out that the acts between the petitioner and the complainant girl have been consensual.