Kerala High Court: Consensual Long-Term Affair With Married Woman Cannot Be Treated as Rape

The Kerala High Court quashed rape and cheating charges against a man after finding that his eight-year relationship with the complainant was consensual throughout.

The Court noted that the affair began while the woman was still married and continued for years after her husband’s death, showing that any false promise of marriage did not induce it.

The Court added that the man, later marrying someone else, could not retrospectively turn a consensual relationship into rape.

Concluding that the facts did not attract Sections 376, 493, or 496 of the IPC, the Court allowed the petition and terminated the proceedings.

[Pradeep v The Station House Officer & Anr]