CHANDIGARH: The Punjab and Haryana High Court has ruled that the breakdown of a consensual relationship does not amount to rape merely because it does not culminate in marriage.
Observing that human relationships are dynamic and may change with time, the court held that incompatibility between two consenting adults cannot be criminalised by converting a failed relationship into a lifelong legal liability.
Justice Alok Jain made these observations while quashing a rape case filed against an Army officer by a woman in August 2020. The court noted that the relationship between the two was consensual and that both parties had willingly entered into it.
The bench recorded that the couple had even performed a roka ceremony, indicating their intention to marry. However, the officer later refused to go ahead with the marriage citing incompatibility.
“Mere failure of a consensual relationship to culminate into marriage, due to differences or incompatibility, cannot be construed as rape, ” the court observed, adding that consent given during a relationship cannot retrospectively be withdrawn on account of a subsequent fallout.
The High Court emphasised that criminal law should not be used as a tool to settle personal scores arising out of broken relationships, particularly when no element of coercion, deception or force is established.