Three-Year Consensual Relationship Cannot Become Criminal Leverage

The Supreme Court has quashed a prosecution arising after a three-year consensual relationship ended without marriage. Justices J.B. Pardiwala and K. Vinod Chandran said consent under fear or misconception cannot be loosely inferred where the complaint itself described a prolonged voluntary relationship and contained no clear assurance of marriage made at its beginning. The later undertaking to marry, recorded during police counselling under threat of prosecution, was unenforceable and could not retroactively transform the earlier relationship. Criminal process cannot become a strong-arm tactic after a marriage proposal fails, the court held. It quashed the charge sheet and closed the sessions case pending in Bilaspur. The appeal was allowed on 1 October 2026.