Karnataka High Court said an important thing while hearing a rape case. The court said that the law does not criminalize heartbreak. The court also said that refusing to marry after a consensual relationship, even if hurtful, cannot be considered rape. According to a report by Live Law, the court was hearing a man’s plea seeking quashing of the FIR lodged against him by a woman under sections 69 and 115(2) of the Indian Penal Code, 2023. In the FIR, the woman had accused the applicant of having a relationship with her by falsely promising marriage.
Karnataka High Court judge Justice M. Nagaprasanna said, “Where two adults have a consensual physical relationship for a long period of time, and the man later refuses to marry the woman, no matter how bad the act is, that relationship cannot be converted into the offense of rape under Section 376 of the Indian Penal Code.”
The court also said in its order that on reading the complaint in its entirety, there is no mention of coercion, fraud or coercion right from the beginning. The complaint details a two-year live-in relationship, shared domestic life and consensual relationship. The court said that the two lived together for two years, and what happened after that is not an allegation of violence, but an allegation of deception. So, this is not a case of physical intimacy by being deceived from the beginning. It is a well-known rule of law that heartbreak is not considered a crime.
Justice M. Nagaprasanna held that a promise of marriage is considered false if it is proved that the promise was merely a deceitful or fraudulent ploy, which was never intended to be fulfilled. The court said that change of heart or lack of coordination, family opposition, or mere hesitation in getting married cannot be considered as criminal intent at the beginning of the relationship.
Dismissing the complaint against the petitioner, the court said that the criminal justice system should not be used as a weapon in case of relationship breakdown. The petitioner had met the woman in Ireland, where both of them had gone to study. Later their friendship turned into love and they decided to be in a live-in relationship.
The woman said in the FIR that they were in a live-in relationship for a long time and during this time physical relations also developed between them. The woman was previously married and had a child. However, she said that her divorce process was already going on with her husband. Later, her relationship with the petitioner deteriorated and on her return to India, she filed a case against him for having an affair with her under the pretext of marriage.
