The court quashed proceedings when the parties settled their dispute, deeming continued prosecution an abuse of process.

ORDER

Dated this the 10^th day of March, 2026 The accused in Crime No. 406 of 2019 of Parappanangadi police station now pending as L.P.C. No. 27 of 2022 before Judicial First Class Magistrate Court, Parappanangadi filed this petition under Section 482 of the Cr.P.C. praying for quashing all further proceedings against him. The offence alleged against the petitioner are under Section 376 (2)(n) of the IPC .

2. The prosecution case is that the accused, with the intention to satisfy his sexual lust, after promising to marry the defacto complainant, committed rape upon her on several days since 16.11.2018 and thereby he is alleged to have committed the aforesaid offences. 3. According to the the learned counsel for the petitioner, the entire dispute between the petitioner and the defacto complainant has been settled. Therefore, he prayed for quashing all further proceedings against the petitioner.

4. The learned counsel for the 3^rd respondent/defacto complainant also submitted that the matter has been settled between the parties and also that the defacto complainant does not want to proceed with the case. The defacto complainant also filed an affidavit to that effect.

5. The petition was opposed by the learned Public Prosecutor. However, she submitted that the defacto complainant had already given signed statement to the SHO in tune of the averments in the affidavit filed before the this Court.

6. On a perusal of the FI statement, it is revealed that the petitioner and the defacto complainant became friends and that they had physical relationship with each other at different places on different dates. Therefore, prima facie it is revealed that the relationship between the petitioner and the defacto complainant was a consensual one. Moreover, now the entire dispute between them has been settled.

7. In the above circumstances, no useful purpose will be served in continuing the proceedings against the petitioner, as the same will only be an abuse of the process of the Court. Therefore, this Crl.M.C. is liable to be allowed.

In the result, this Crl.M.C. is allowed. All further proceedings against the petitioner in Crime No. 406 of 2019 of Parappanangadi police station, is quashed.

Sd/-