SC Lets Go Of Rape Accused After He Agrees To Marry Complainant in 6 Months

SC Lets Go Of Rape Accused: On Wednesday, the Supreme Court let a man from Punjab off-hook, after he promised to marry the complainant who filed a case against him.

The court additionally warned that the man will be sent to jail if he fails to marry the woman who is currently based in Australia.

“Remember, we will send you to jail if we find that your proposal to marry her is just a ploy to get rid of the criminal case against you,” said SC bench headed by CJI SA Bobde.

According to reports, the man faced charges of rape and cheating by the woman, belonging to the scheduled castes. She alleged that the man, an upper-caste Jat Sikh lured her into a relationship on the pretext of marriage. The two had known each other in Australia since 2016 when both were studying there. In the FIR registered by the woman, she alleged that the man convinced her for a relationship on the pretext of marriage, but he returned to Amritsar in 2018, and in 2019, stepped back from his promises saying that his parents were against their marriage.

Prompted by the situation, the woman filed a complaint with the NRI Wing of Punjab Police, which followed a preliminary investigation and finally lodged an FIR invoking charges of rape and cheating under the IPC. Investigations revealed that the relationship was consensual, but the Punjab and Haryana high court denied him relief, taking note of serious allegations by the complainant that he had threatened her to publish her photographs on social media if she did not withdraw the FIR.

However, advocate Shakti Paul Sharma, representing the man, said that the bench including justice AS Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian compromised the deed stating the two would be married in the next six months and that the man will move to Australia to live with the woman.

Initially, the bench said it would only grant bail after he marries the woman. But Sharma highlighted the restrictions on flights from Australia to India due to COVID-19. The case is due for hearing after four weeks.