A consensual relationship cannot be retrospectively treated as rape merely because it ended on bitter terms, the Supreme Court has observed, warning against the criminalisation of failed relationships. The Court said that treating a subsequent breakup as evidence of deception or lack of consent could deprive a man of the right to withdraw from a relationship and expose him to the threat of a rape accusation, reported Live Law.
The Court drew a distinction between cases where consent was obtained through a “mirage of deceit and falsehood at the outset” and situations where a person regrets having consented to sexual intimacy after the relationship comes to an end.
The latter, it said, “cannot constitute a consensual relationship as a crime” or justify setting the criminal justice system in motion in a manner that affects the accused's liberty and reputation.
Failed relationships cannot automatically become rape cases
Explaining the implications of such allegations, the Court said, “Such an approach denudes the man of any agency entirely as the mere factor of being in a consensual relationship at one point would bind him to it entirely for fear of being accused of rape at a subsequent point of time. In such a scenario can it be said that the man has no right to withdraw from the relationship? Can the decision be termed as deceit or fraud? Clearly not,” the Court said.
It further observed that physical intimacy during a functioning relationship “cannot be retrospectively branded as [an] act of rape merely because the relationship soured and no longer subsists.”
The Court noted that it had repeatedly witnessed instances of failed relationships being converted into criminal cases. It stressed that “Rape being a heinous offence must be reserved for situations where there is real sexual violence, coercion or manipulation of consent.”
Court stresses need to protect genuine rape survivors
At the same time, the Court underlined that rape “strikes at the core of a woman's bodily autonomy and dignity.”
It acknowledged that rape remains heavily under-reported, with victims often choosing silence to protect their own and their families' honour and reputation. Genuine complaints, therefore, “must be pursued with rigour where facts clearly show sexual assault and violence.”
The Court emphasised the need to prevent misuse of the criminal justice system to harass someone merely for ending a consensual relationship, while ensuring that genuine cases of sexual assault receive due legal attention.