{"id":8726,"date":"2026-05-08T09:15:48","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T09:15:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lawsandlegals.com\/english\/?p=8726"},"modified":"2026-05-12T11:26:21","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T11:26:21","slug":"breakup-of-adult-relationship-cannot-be-turned-into-rape-or-kidnapping-case-rajasthan-high-court-quashes-fir","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lawsandlegals.com\/english\/breakup-of-adult-relationship-cannot-be-turned-into-rape-or-kidnapping-case-rajasthan-high-court-quashes-fir\/","title":{"rendered":"Failed Consensual Relationship Cannot Be Turned Into Rape Case: Rajasthan High Court"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Jodhpur:<\/strong> The Rajasthan High Court has reiterated that consensual relationships between two adults cannot be retrospectively converted into cases of rape or kidnapping merely because the relationship later turns sour or breaks down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Court delivered the ruling while quashing an FIR registered in Sirohi district against a man and his family members, in which serious allegations of kidnapping, rape, and criminal conspiracy were levelled under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the prosecution, the woman had alleged that she was abducted and subjected to sexual assault by her former partner and his family members. However, the defence argued that the relationship was entirely consensual, long-standing, and between two adults who had willingly chosen to be together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The accused side also placed on record a marriage agreement dated 25 June 2022, followed by a subsequent marriage solemnised at an Arya Samaj temple in Jodhpur on 29 March 2023. They further relied on a notarised affidavit and the woman\u2019s earlier police statements, where she had stated that she had left with the accused voluntarily.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Court noted that the woman had earlier approached the High Court seeking protection, stating that she had voluntarily married the accused but feared harm from her family due to their opposition to the relationship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Justice Anil Kumar Upman observed that the material on record, including earlier statements and documents, prima facie indicated that the relationship between the parties was consensual in nature. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Court further noted that there was no credible material to suggest force, coercion, or deception sufficient to constitute offences of rape or kidnapping.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The High Court also made important observations on the misuse of criminal law, stating that failed consensual relationships are increasingly being given a criminal colour, which amounts to abuse of the justice system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Relying on Supreme Court precedents, the Court emphasised that Section 376 of the IPC cannot be invoked in cases where consent is freely given by two adults, unless there is clear evidence of fraud, coercion, or misrepresentation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Court further observed that allowing such prosecutions to continue despite clear documentary evidence of consent would amount to misuse of legal process and unnecessary harassment of the accused.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Concluding that continuation of proceedings would serve no purpose and would be an abuse of process of law, Justice Anil Kumar Upman quashed FIR registered at Barloot Police Station, Sirohi, along with all consequential criminal proceedings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The judgment once again highlights the judiciary\u2019s consistent stand that consensual relationships, even if later unsuccessful, cannot be converted into serious criminal allegations without strong supporting evidence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jodhpur: The Rajasthan High Court has reiterated that consensual relationships between two adults cannot be retrospectively converted into cases of rape or kidnapping merely because the relationship later turns sour or breaks down. The Court delivered the ruling while quashing an FIR registered in Sirohi district against a man and his family members, in which … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8727,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_wppp_is_locked":false,"_wppp_selected_plans":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[244,243,246,245,69,29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-consumer-cases","category-digests","category-international","category-job-updates","category-rajasthan-high-court","category-top-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lawsandlegals.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8726","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lawsandlegals.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lawsandlegals.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lawsandlegals.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lawsandlegals.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8726"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lawsandlegals.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8726\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8728,"href":"https:\/\/lawsandlegals.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8726\/revisions\/8728"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lawsandlegals.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8727"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lawsandlegals.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lawsandlegals.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lawsandlegals.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}