Supreme Court Dismisses Rape Allegations in Marriage Promise Case: A Closer Look

Supreme Court's Ruling on Allegations

New Delhi: On Thursday, the Supreme Court annulled a First Information Report (FIR) against a man accused of raping a woman under the guise of marriage, citing a lack of evidence to support the claims.

The court characterized the FIR as a mere "collection of falsehoods," filled with fabricated and unproven accusations made by the complainant.

A bench comprising Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta stated that allowing the prosecution to proceed would constitute a serious miscarriage of justice and a blatant misuse of judicial processes.

The court highlighted significant discrepancies in the woman's allegations, pointing out inherent contradictions in her statements.

"The complainant is a well-educated 30-year-old woman. In her 2021 FIR, she mentioned only one sexual encounter, whereas in the 2022 FIR, she referred to 4-5 incidents, all of which predate the earlier report," the bench noted.

"It is highly unlikely that she would forget or fail to mention these alleged incidents of sexual relations under a false promise of marriage," the judges remarked.

This ruling came in response to a plea from the accused, who sought to quash the FIR after the Telangana High Court dismissed his request.

The Supreme Court also noted that the complainant had previously filed a similar FIR against an assistant professor at Osmania University, where she was enrolled.

Upon reviewing her text messages, the court found that the woman had acknowledged her manipulative behavior and expressed intentions to target a green card holder.

"At one point, she indicated that it would be easy for her to ensnare her next victim. She also stated that she would not waste time on the accused and needed to focus on her next target," the bench added.

"Her messages reveal a concerning pattern of manipulative and vindictive behavior," the judges concluded.

The court further stated that the accused had valid reasons to feel alarmed and withdraw from the proposed marriage upon learning of the complainant's "aggressive" sexual conduct and "obsessive" tendencies.

"Thus, even if the accused did retract his marriage proposal, it cannot be concluded that he engaged in sexual relations with the complainant under false pretenses or that he committed an offense based on her belonging to the Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes community," the bench clarified.