SC: criminal law cannot be used to turn failed relationships into rape cases

The Supreme Court has set a clear judicial standard that criminal law must not be invoked to transform the breakdown of personal relationships into rape prosecutions, especially where there is no evidence of coercion or deceit from the outset.

- TDG NETWORK

In a recent judgment, the apex court quashed a rape FIR against a Chhattisgarh-based lawyer who was accused of sexually assaulting a woman on the promise of marriage. The Bench held that invoking serious penal provisions like Section 376 of the Indian Penal Code in situations arising from failed consensual relationships trivialises the offence and burdens the justice system with vexatious litigation.