Mumbai: The Bombay high court has quashed a FIR under which a man was booked for raping a woman on the pretext of marriage. The HC quashed the FIR after the woman informed that both of them were now happily married to each other.
A division bench of Justices Ranjit More and Bharati Dangre was hearing the petition filed by the man against whom the FIR was registered by the woman last year, alleging rape and cheating under sections 376 and 420 of the IPC, respectively, at a city police station.
Last month however, the couple approached the court saying that they had been in a consensual relationship at the time of the alleged rape incident and that the woman had registered the FIR after the man refused to marry her.
They told the court that they had subsequently been counselled by their family members and well-wishers into resolving the dispute amicably. In January this year, the two had tied the knot. The victim submitted in court that she and the accused were living together happily.
In the present case, the bench noted that it seemed evident that the two had been in a consensual relationship at the time of the alleged rape incident. Besides, continuing the prosecution against the man would go against the welfare of the woman since they were now married, the high court said.
“So far as the instant case is concerned, we have gone through the charge sheet. Evidently, the petitioner man and victim woman were adults at the time of the incident in question. The physical relationship between the parties was consensual and the FIR came to be filed when the petitioner refused to marry the woman. They have got married on January 19, 2019, under the provisions of the Special Marriage Act, 1954,” the HC ruled.
The couple placed on record a certificate of marriage. After considering all aspects, the bench said that no purpose would be served in continuing with the prosecution of the accused.
“Looking from the angle of welfare of the woman, who is now married to the petitioner, it would be just and proper to end the prosecution against the petitioner,” the court said while quashing the FIR.
