Supreme Court Says Breakup Alone Does Not Make Sex Rape

The Supreme Court of India said consensual intimacy during a relationship cannot be treated as rape solely because the relationship later ended, while stressing that courts must examine whether consent was obtained through deception. The bench made the observations while considering a Kerala man’s challenge to criminal proceedings arising from allegations involving a concealed prior marriage. Justices B. V. Nagarathna and R. Mahadevan said the circumstances at the outset of a relationship matter. The court distinguished between consent allegedly secured through deliberate deception and regret over consensual sexual acts after a relationship breaks down. The latter, by itself, cannot establish rape, the bench said. The woman alleged that the man concealed that he was already married when he married her, and that she agreed to sexual relations believing their marriage was lawful. She also alleged that he deceived her and had sexual intercourse with her while his earlier marriage remained in force. The claims are allegations described in the case, not findings independently established in the reports. The case involved charges of rape, cheating and breach of trust. Two reports...