Consensual adult ties cannot later be termed rape, says Delhi HC

The Delhi High Court has observed that if two adults, even if one is married, choose to live together or have a sexual relationship, they must also accept responsibility for the consequences of that decision.

Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma, in a judgment delivered on September 10, remarked that “it is not open to one party, after the relationship turns sour, to retrospectively paint it as a crime of sexual assault”. The observation came while quashing a rape case against a man employed as a pilot on the complaint of a cabin-crew member.

The complainant alleged that she had been subjected to repeated sexual intercourse under false promises of marriage, despite the accused being married, and was forced to undergo three abortions in August 2018, April 2019, and June 2020. She further alleged threats, intimidation, physical and psychological abuse, and blackmail, leading her to lodge the complaint on September 19, 2020.

The man, who had been granted anticipatory bail by a Sessions Court, argued that the relationship was consensual from inception, without any promise of marriage, divorce, or concealment of his marital status.

The court took note that the woman was aware of the man’s marital status at the outset, yet continued the relationship for over two years.

“In this context, when an educated woman chooses to continue a relationship with a man despite knowing that he is married, she also takes upon herself the responsibility of that choice,” the court said.

“She must recognise the possibility that the relationship may not culminate in marriage, or that it may eventually turn sour. The law cannot always be invoked as a remedy for a relationship that fails, where it was otherwise consensual in nature,” the judgment added.