Supreme Court quashes rape charges against man, calls it consensual relationship gone sour
Justices Abhay S Oka & Ujjal Bhuyan [08-07-2024]

Read Order: SHIV PRATAP SINGH RANA v. STATE OF MADHYA PRADESH & ANR[SC- CRL APL NO. 1552 OF 2023]

LE Correspondent

New Delhi, July 10, 2024: The Supreme Court has set aside the orders of the Madhya Pradesh High Court and Sessions Court, thereby quashing rape charges against a man accused by a woman of sexual exploitation on the pretext of marriage.

A Division Bench of the apex court held that the relationship between the appellant and the prosecutrix was consensual in nature and continued for almost two years. Though there were talks of marriage between the families, it did not materialize, leading to the woman filing a rape case.

The Top Court noted several contradictions and discrepancies in the woman's statements recorded under Sections 161 and 164 of CrPC. It observed that the woman, who was a major at the time of the alleged incident, had voluntarily accompanied the man to Gwalior where the alleged offence took place. She did not raise any alarm at that time and continued the relationship thereafter. Importantly, the police did not seize any photographs by which the man had allegedly blackmailed the woman, nor the mobile phone, stamp papers, jewelry etc. which were crucial to prove the charges. In the absence of such evidence, the prosecution's case collapsed, the bench said.

"It appears to be a case of a consensual relationship which had gone sour leading to lodging of FIR. Compelling the appellant to face the criminal trial on these materials would be nothing but an abuse of the process of the Court, result of the trial being a foregone conclusion," the Apex Court held.

Allowing the man's appeal, the apex court set aside the High Court and Sessions Court orders whereby charges under Section 376(2)(n) and 506 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (IPC) were framed against the appellant and the application for discharge filed by the appellant was rejected

Quashing the proceedings in the rape case pending before the Sessions Court,the Top Court held that it would be in the interest of justice to terminate the proceedings at this stage itself.