In a ruling laced with judicial restraint and sharp clarity, the Kerala High Court granted anticipatory bail to a 27-year-old man accused of rape, emphasizing that a failed romantic relationship cannot automatically be recast as sexual assault.
The case unfolded after a married woman, also a third-year medical student, accused the man of raping her during a two-day stay at a hotel near Thamarassery in November 2024. Notably, the complaint was filed nearly five months after the alleged incident.
Justice Bechu Kurian Thomas, delivering the order, made it clear: “Arrest and remand are not punitive tools to wield when consensual relationships turn bitter. Courts must be wary of criminal law being weaponized in the wake of heartbreak.”
The complainant’s own statement, the Court observed, revealed that she had voluntarily traveled from Thiruvananthapuram to Kozhikode, stayed in lodges with the petitioner, and continued communicating with him via Instagram and Snapchat. The judge underlined that no inference of non-consensual conduct could be drawn from these facts.
The Court further dismantled the claim of “false promise of marriage,” noting that such a claim collapses when the complainant is herself already in a valid, subsisting marriage.
“When a woman, fully aware of her choices, travels and stays with a man for two nights, it cannot be presumed that the physical intimacy was forced,” the Court stated, adding that allegations of rape in such scenarios must be scrutinized with a lens of realism, not moral panic.
The petitioner had been charged under Section 64(1) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita for rape. However, the Court, after studying the First Information Statement and the FIR, concluded that there was no prima facie case to deny pre-arrest bail. There was no need, it said, for custodial interrogation.
Bail was granted with a set of conditions: the petitioner must cooperate with the investigation, avoid any contact with the complainant, and not meddle with evidence.
The ruling sends a strong signal: criminal law is not a cudgel for romantic regret.
