The Allahabad High Court recently dismissed a rape case against an individual. The case had been filed after the individual refused to marry a woman he had been in a relationship with for several years, to which her family had given their consent.
The court was considering a request from the man to dismiss the criminal case filed against him. The case alleged that he had raped the woman under false pretences of marriage.

Justice Anish Kumar Gupta granted the request after observing that the accused's decision not to marry the woman was due to later developments and that his commitment to marry her was genuine when he initially made it.
The judge acknowledged that the complainant and the accused had known each other for more than 15 years. Furthermore, they had been in a physical relationship with the consent of the complainant's parents for over 8 years. The court stated, “therefore, there was an active and considered consent by the victim, with the approval of her parents and the physical relationship with her was not against her will.”

The woman who filed the complaint asserted that her relationship with the accused began after they met at her sister's wedding. According to the complaint, their relationship developed gradually, and her family later started pressuring the accused to marry her. However, in 2018, the accused declined to marry her.
The complainant's lawyer argued that the accused had promised to her and, based on that assurance, they engaged in a sexual relationship for several years. Additionally, in a statement provided to the police, the complainant claimed that when their physical relationship started, she was a minor, approximately 17 years old.
On the contrary, the counsel representing the accused argued that this was a longstanding consensual relationship between the two individuals, and it had received the explicit approval of the complainant's parents. The defence attorney contended that, even when considering the complainant's statements and the first information report (FIR), no criminal offense could be established against the accused.

In support of his arguments, the counsel for the accused referenced a Supreme Court judgment from another case. In that particular case, the highest court had concluded that it was challenging to categorize an eight-year-long relationship as "rape," especially when the complainant and accused had cohabited as if they were a married couple.

After taking into account the opposing arguments presented by both sides, the High Court decided to dismiss and nullify the rape case filed against the accused.
“Even assuming that all the allegations made against the applicant herein are true for the purposes of considering the application for quashing u/S 482 Cr.P.C., no offence u/S 376 is established as the relationship between the parties was of consensual nature and which has an approval of the family as well and the initial promise by the applicant herein was not false,” the court stated.

Case: Jiya Ullah v State 2023: AHC:178195