Married woman cannot file rape charges on false marriage promise: Supreme court quashes rape case

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court of India has held that a consensual sexual relationship, even if followed by a breach of a promise to marry, does not automatically constitute rape. Criticising the trend of filing rape cases when the relationship deteriorates after consensual physical intercourse, the court said that this does not fall within the ambit of rape. A consensual relationship that later turns bitter cannot be transformed into a case of rape.

Such complaints of harassment trivialize the seriousness of the crime of rape. It leaves an indelible mark on the accused. A bench of Justices B V Nagaratna and Ujjal Bhuyan also said that lower courts should be cautious while considering such complaints.

The court's verdict quashed the rape case filed by a 33-year-old lady lawyer against a male advocate and the subsequent proceedings in the Bilaspur Sessions Court in this regard. The accused Pramod Kumar Navratna approached the Supreme Court after the Chhattisgarh High Court refused to quash the FIR.

The woman who claims to have been raped here is married. The marriage has not been legally dissolved. She cannot enter into a second marriage while that marriage is still in existence. The complainant could not have legally married at the time the crime was allegedly committed. Therefore, the marriage promise of another person cannot be legally enforced.

The two-judge bench clarified that the complainant cannot simultaneously claim she was induced into a sexual relationship based on a false promise of marriage while admitting she was already married with pending divorce proceedings. Meanwhile, the Chhattisgarh government argued that the accused targeted the lawyer by learning about the irregularities in her married life.

Abuse of legal process

• The Supreme Court has said that allowing the prosecution to continue in the Chhattisgarh case would be an abuse of legal process
• A criminal case was filed after a breakup in a consensual relationship. This is an abuse of the criminal justice system
• The complainant is not an ordinary woman, she is a lawyer. Prudence and discrimination should have been used before filing the case.

Forced to have an abortion

The 33-year-old lawyer has an 11-year-old son. The two met at an event on September 18, 2022. A complaint of harassment was filed on February 6, 2025. The lawyer alleges that Pramod Kumar Navratna repeatedly had physical contact with her, even though she told her that the divorce case was pending in court. He made the marriage proposal by applying vermilion on her forehead. When she told Pramod Kumar that she was pregnant, he backed out. The complaint alleges that he forced her to have an abortion. However, the accused claims that he never intended to get married.