Consensual relationships, once legally recognized through marriage, negate allegations under Section 376 of IPC, as marital consent shields against claims of sexual assault.

ORDER :

JUVVADI SRIDEVI, J.

This Criminal Petition is filed by the petitioner-accused seeking to quash the criminal proceedings against him in C.C.No.70 of 2023 on the file of the learned Principal District & Sessions Judge, Nirmal. The offences alleged against the petitioner-accused are under Sections 417 and 376 of the Indian Penal Code (for short ‘IPC’).

2. Heard Sri M.A.K.Mukheed, learned counsel for petitioner and Sri M.Ramachandra Reddy, learned Additional Public Prosecutor for the State-respondent No.1 as well as Sri G. Nagesh, learned counsel for the unofficial respondent No.2. Perused the record.

3(a). In brief, the case of the prosecution is that the petitioner-accused and the respondent No.2 are residents of Bhainsa Town. The petitioner-accused came into contact with respondent No.2 who was working as a private teacher, which gradually developed into friendship. On 27.01.2016, the respondent No.2 attended the marriage of her colleague, from where the petitioner-accused allegedly took her to his house and forced her into physical relationship by alluring her with a promise of marriage.

3(b). It is further alleged that thereafter the petitioner-accused continued physical relations with the respondent No.2 and also captured her photographs and videos in compromising situations. Subsequently, the petitioner- accused got engaged to his uncle’s daughter. When the respondent No.2 confronted him, he is said to have assured her that he would marry her. On 15.09.2017, when the petitioner-accused was preparing to marry his uncle’s daughter, the respondent No.2 telephoned him, and though he initially expressed willingness to elope with her, his relatives allegedly persuaded him to perform a second marriage with the respondent No.2, to which she consented.

3(c). It is further alleged that four months thereafter, respondent No.2’s engagement was performed with another person. Immediately thereafter, the petitioner-accused allegedly threatened respondent No.2 that he would publicize her nude photographs and videos, forcing her to cancel the said engagement. On 18.03.2018, the petitioner-accused is said to have taken respondent No.2 to Bhodhan, where he married her in the presence of caste elders and also obtained a marriage certificate. The first wife of the petitioner-accused thereafter obtained divorce from him. Subsequently, the parents of the petitioner-accused sent him to Hyderabad, and thereafter, his attitude towards respondent No.2 changed, as he started threatening her seeking separation. Respondent No.2 has further alleged that her marriage with the petitioner-accused was not accountable, and she lodged the present criminal case. 04. Learned counsel for the petitioner submitted that the petitioner-accused is nothing to do with the alleged offences. There is no dishonest or fraudulent intention on the part of the petitioner-accused to cheat the respondent No.2. The ingredients for constituting the offence under Section 376 of IPC as the petitioner-accused and the respondent No.2 are married and lived together being wife and husband and that the sexual relationship between the wife and husband do not amount to rape. While praying to quash the proceedings against the petitioner-accused, he relied upon a decision of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in Prashant v. State of NCT of Delhi , [ MANU/SC/1226/2024 ] wherein at Paragraph Nos.19, 21, 22 held that:

“19. In our view, taking the allegations in the FIR and the charge- sheet as they stand, the crucial ingredients of the offence under Section 376 (2)(n) IPC are absent. A review of the FIR and the complainant's statement under Section 164 CrPC discloses no indication that any promise of marriage was extended at the outset of their relationship in 2017. Therefore, even if the prosecution's case is accepted at its face value, it cannot be concluded that the complainant engaged in a sexual relationship with