SC throws out rape charges in extramarital consensual case
The Supreme Court has thrown out rape charges against a Chhattisgarh advocate, after a married woman accused him of violating her on the promise of marriage.
The court made it clear: if someone is already married, any promise to marry them isn't valid under Indian law—so it can't be used as grounds for a rape case.
Relationship turning acrimonious
Justices B V Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan called this "a classic case of a consensual relationship turning acrimonious."
They explained that even if there was a false promise, it wouldn't count legally because the woman wasn't eligible for marriage in the first place.
Legally, can't marry someone already married
Section 5(i) of the Hindu Marriage Act says you can't legally marry someone if either person already has a spouse.
So in this case, any talk of marriage was never legally possible—which meant it couldn't be used to claim consent was taken away.