Citing key feminist scholar, Orissa HC quashes rape case

When a relationship does not lead to marriage, it may be a source of personal hurt but is not a crime, the Orissa high court observed while quashing rape charges against a police sub-inspector accused by his former partner.

- Debabrata Mohanty

BHUBANESWAR:

In dismissing the petition, Justice Sanjeeb Panigrahi laid down that the criminal justice system must be shielded from being turned into "an instrument of vengeance" and that women's sexual agency involves rejecting the notion that consent to intimacy automatically constitutes consent to marriage.

The case relates to a woman's complaints against her former partner - including a civil suit as well as a criminal charge alleging rape on the promise of marriage. The woman had claimed she met the man in 2012 and maintained a relationship for nine years, which, she stated was against her will and involved torture.