"Consensual": Court Cancels Rape Case Against 20-Year-Old Filed By Mother Of One

The Uttarakhand High Court has quashed a rape case slapped against a man below marriageable age by an older married woman whom he had been in a relationship with.

Justice Pankaj Purohit dismissed criminal proceedings against the underage man on the ground that it was a "consensual relationship".

The woman, who is also a mother, had charged him with rape under the promise of marriage and issuing threats of uploading her videos on the social media.

On the basis of her complaint, the man was charge-sheeted and served a summoning order by Kashipur Judicial Magistrate's court under Indian Penal Code Sections 376 (rape) and 506 (criminal intimidation) in 2022.

The judge questioned how a mature 28-year-old married woman, who also had a seven-year-old son, could engage in physical relations with a 20-year-old man on the basis of a marriage promise. He also questioned the legal validity of such a promise, as the man was below marriageable age at the time.

"It was a consensual relationship that deteriorated rather than a case of false promise," the high court observed.

It also said that the accused was not of legally marriageable age while the complainant was already married and was well aware of the marriage and even had a child from it.

Further observing that the proposal of marriage from the accused was not probable due to the marital status of the complainant, the High Court quashed the complaint and the chargesheet against the man and dismissed the criminal proceedings against him.

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