"Vehicle for vengeance": SC dismisses "rape on pretext of marriage" FIR following affair with coworker

The Supreme Court has dismissed the FIR and chargesheet against a man who was accused of "rape on the pretext of marriage," calling the case an "afterthought" and "a vehicle for vengeance." A Madhya Pradesh High Court ruling that had refused to stop the proceedings was recently overturned by the bench of Justices Sanjay Karol and N Kotiswar Singh.

The SC pointed out that the man and lady were coworkers at the time of the alleged crime; he was a tax inspector in the local municipal corporation, and she operated a computer. It wasn't until the man went to higher-ups with a complaint against her and she received a show cause notice that she filed the case. In his assertions, he had claimed that she was abusing him and threatening suicide.

She was married and had a son, but after receiving promises of marriage, she started seeing the accused physically. She allegedly said in the FIR that the man had forced her into a sexual relationship on March 15, 2023, by making another marriage promise. She said that the harassment persisted until April. He apparently declined when she later inquired about marriage.