In another landmark judgment, the Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld that consensual sex or physical proximity between live-in partners does not tantamount to rape in the event of the man failing to marry the woman due to circumstances beyond his control.
This can be viewed as a big relief to such cases which have been taking place in the Northeast in recent times.
Live-in relationship has become quite common in the Northeast, especially the tribal states.
There are instances in recent past when the man fails to marry the woman owing to circumstances beyond his control.
Later the woman files rape charges victimizing the man.
Even examples are many where quite a handful of men are spending time behind the bars on charges of rape filed by once live-in partners.
The ruling by the apex court can provide some respite to such victims who become vulnerable to circumstances.
The top court passed the ruling while quashing an case lodged by a Maharashtra-based nurse against a doctor, who were in a live-in relationship.
A bench of Justices A K Sikri and S Abdul Nazeer said in a recent verdict that ‘there is a clear distinction between rape and consensual sex. The court, in such cases, must very carefully examine whether the complainant had actually wanted to marry the victim or had mala fide motives and had made a false promise to this effect only to satisfy his lust, as the latter falls within the ambit of cheating or deception’.
The bench further viewed that if ‘the accused has not made the promise with the sole intention to seduce the woman to indulge in sexual acts, such an act would not amount to rape’.
The court further directed the police to act sensibly and responsibly while dealing with such cases.