Consent, Deception and Breakups: Supreme Court Draws the Line on Rape Charges

The Supreme Court on Friday said physical intimacy during a consensual relationship cannot retrospectively be treated as rape merely because the relationship later breaks down. The court emphasised the need to distinguish between consent obtained through deliberate deception and regret over a relationship that has ended.

A bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and R Mahadevan made the observations while discharging Kerala resident Santosh Kumar N P from charges of rape and cheating. The bench said that a relationship ending does not, by itself, establish that the physical intimacy during it amounted to a criminal offence.

The court observed that consent obtained through fraud or deliberate misrepresentation from the beginning must be examined differently from situations in which individuals voluntarily enter into a relationship but later regret their decision. It also noted that a person has the right to withdraw from a consensual relationship and that ending such an association cannot automatically be treated as deceit or fraud.

The bench cautioned against converting failed relationships into criminal proceedings, stating that such an approach could affect an accused person's liberty and reputation. It said allegations of rape must be examined in the context of sexual violence, coercion or manipulation of consent.

According to the prosecution, the accused allegedly concealed his existing marriage before marrying the complainant in Mysuru. The woman, who had been divorced from an earlier marriage, alleged that he misrepresented his marital status and induced her to enter the relationship believing the marriage was legally valid.

The complainant alleged that the two lived together from 1996 to 2003 and accused him of rape, cheating and breach of trust. She claimed that his earlier marriage was still subsisting when he married her.

The accused challenged the Kerala High Court's decision rejecting his discharge plea and sought relief from the Supreme Court.

While granting him relief from the charges, the top court stressed that consensual intimacy cannot be labelled rape solely because a relationship has ended. Its observations also highlighted the distinction between subsequent regret and allegations that consent was obtained through legally significant deception.