The Karnataka High Court has observed that a consensual relationship that breaks down cannot be the source of a criminal offence except under certain circumstances. The order was pronounced Saturday by Justice M Nagaprasanna, who quashed proceedings related to rape against a man residing in Bengaluru.
The case pertains to a couple who had met over a dating app and kept in touch for some years, sending images and messages to each other over social media. They met each other in August last year and allegedly got physically intimate at a hotel in Bengaluru. Two days later, the woman filed a complaint alleging rape after having undergone a medical examination.
Quashing the proceedings, the bench stated, “A relationship born of mutual volition, even if it founders in disappointment, cannot, save in clearest of cases, be transmuted into an offence under the criminal law. If the present prosecution were permitted to meander into a trial, it would be nothing but a ritualistic procession towards miscarriage of justice.”
The woman, in her complaint, had alleged that the accused had refused to listen to her, though she had withdrawn her consent for intimacy. The man had approached the high court to quash the proceedings after the chargesheet was filed.
The man’s counsel stated that the allegation was false, citing that photographs, videos, and messages were exchanged between the two via social media, which were deliberately excluded from the chargesheet. It was also argued that they had both been actively communicating on a dating app for some time.
Opposing the petitioner’s argument, the state counsel said that it was a case of sexual assault, and the question of whether or not there was consent had to be established through a trial.
The court, however, agreed with the petitioner’s argument, noting that while the chats could not be quoted in the order as it would not be in good taste, they did indicate that the acts between the petitioner and the complainant woman were consensual.