Allahabad High Court on live-in relationships: ‘Western influence’, rape FIRs after breakups

Allahabad High Court

• Allahabad High Court sets aside life sentence in kidnapping and assault case
• Court finds woman was a consenting adult, not a minor, at time of incident
• Conviction deemed unwarranted as relationship was consensual and voluntary

Did our AI summary help?

The Allahabad High Court has set aside the life imprisonment awarded to a man accused of kidnapping and sexually assaulting a woman, observing that the growing tendency among young people to opt for live-in relationships is influenced by “western ideas” and that failed relationships often result in FIRs alleging rape, news agency PTI reported.

A division bench of Justice Siddharth and Justice Prashant Mishra passed the order while allowing a criminal appeal filed by one Chandresh. Since existing laws are in favour of women, men are convicted by relying on the laws that were made when the concept of live-in relationships was nowhere in existence, the bench said.

Allowing a criminal appeal filed by Chandresh, a division bench of Justice Siddharth and Justice Prashant Mishra said that existing laws, framed at a time when live-in relationships were “nowhere in existence”, are frequently used to convict men even in cases involving consenting adults.

The court noted that “when such relationships fail, first information reports (FIRs) alleging rape are frequently lodged,” adding that since laws are largely in favour of women, men are often convicted by relying on provisions that do not account for the present social realities.

According to the prosecution, Chandresh had enticed away the informant’s minor daughter on the pretext of marriage, taken her to Bengaluru and established a physical relationship with her. The trial court had convicted him under Sections 363 (kidnapping), 366 (abduction for marriage) and 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) of the IPC, Section 6 of the POCSO Act, and Section 3(2)(V) of the SC/ST Act.

Challenging the conviction, the appellant approached the High Court, which, after examining the records, found that the woman was a major at the time of the incident. The bench pointed out that the trial court failed to properly consider the Ossification Test Report, which showed her age to be around 20 years.

The judges also flagged inconsistencies in the mother’s testimony. While the FIR mentioned the woman’s age as 18-and-a-half years, her statement in court claimed she was 17 — a change the bench noted appeared to have been made on “legal advice”.

The court observed that the woman had travelled with the appellant by public transport, including a government bus and a train, to Gorakhpur and then to Bengaluru without raising any alarm. “She lived with the appellant in a locality full of other houses in Bangalore for six months and had a consenting physical relationship with him,” the bench noted. It added that she contacted her family only after the appellant dropped her back at Shikarpur Crossing on August 6, 2021.

Holding that the woman had eloped of her own free will, the High Court said the conviction for kidnapping and abduction was “absolutely unwarranted”. On the rape and POCSO charges, the bench said the trial court’s judgment was unjustified as the relationship was consensual and the woman was a major.

“The conviction under section-376 of I.P.C., is also not proper because the victim was major and had consenting relationship with appellant for six years,” the court said in its judgment dated January 8, while setting aside the conviction and allowing the appeal.