New Delhi: The Supreme Court has ruled that if a relationship later breaks down, the physical intimacy that occurred earlier with mutual consent cannot be branded as sexual assault.
Kerala resident Santosh Kumar had appealed to the Supreme Court against the Kerala High Court’s dismissal of his petition seeking to quash the proceedings against him.
A Supreme Court bench comprising Justices B.V. Nagarathna and R. Mahadevan, which heard his petition, delivered its verdict today. In its judgment, the court said, “It is necessary to distinguish between cases where sexual consent is invalid from the outset because of deliberate deception or fraud, and cases where there is later regret over intimacy entered into with mutual consent after a relationship has ended.
In such cases, merely because a relationship has soured and no longer exists, physical intimacy that took place during the period when the relationship was good cannot later be branded as an act of sexual assault.
Regret over a failed relationship does not turn a relationship entered into by mutual consent into a criminal act. Nor does it trigger the criminal justice system in a way that deprives the accused of liberty and reputation.
The fear that being in a consensual relationship may later lead to a rape allegation takes away a person’s right to make decisions independently. In such a situation, can it be said that the person has no right to withdraw from that relationship? Can this decision be called deception or fraud? Certainly not.
We repeatedly see the troubling trend of failed relationships being turned into criminal cases. Sexual assault is a heinous crime. This allegation should be used only in genuine sexual assault cases.
When every relationship entered into by mutual consent breaks down and is then turned into an allegation of sexual assault, it diminishes the seriousness of the alleged offense or even renders the accusation itself meaningless. Therefore, Santosh Kumar is acquitted of the charges of sexual assault and fraud,” they ruled.
It has been stated by the government side that Santhosh Kumar concealed his first marriage and married a woman who had already been divorced for his second marriage. It has also been stated that he deceived the woman by making her believe that their marriage was legally valid and lived with her. It is noteworthy that the woman later leveled allegations of sexual assault, fraud, and breach of trust against Santhosh Kumar.
