In a stern and unflinching judgment, the Supreme Court has made it crystal clear: a relationship gone south does not morph into a criminal act of rape—no matter how bruised the heart may be.
Delivering its ruling in the case Amol Bhagwan Nehul v. State of Maharashtra, the apex court pulled no punches in decrying the misuse of Section 376 of the Indian Penal Code, warning that heartbreak, however bitter, is not a license to invoke the criminal machinery of the State.
A bench comprising Justices BV Nagarathna and Satish Chandra Sharma observed that tagging every failed promise of marriage as a criminal offence “not only clogs the justice system but smears the identity of the accused, possibly forever.” The Court emphasized that this pattern of weaponizing Section 376 has become a recurring problem—one the judiciary has cautioned against repeatedly.
“This Court has time and again warned against the misuse of these provisions,” the bench noted. “Treating every breach of promise as a false promise invites not justice but injustice. A consensual relationship that eventually sours cannot be the bedrock of a rape charge.”
The case in question revolved around a young man, 23 at the time of the alleged incidents, who found himself facing serious charges—including rape, unnatural offences, criminal intimidation, and more—after his relationship with a woman neighbor ended in turmoil.
According to the complainant, the man had engaged in sexual relations with her under the pretense of marriage between June 2022 and July 2023. She claimed he entered her home in July 2022 at night, assuring her of marriage once her divorce was finalized. But when his behavior cooled off, she visited his native village unannounced, only to be informed by his family that marriage was not an option due to religious differences. An FIR followed.
What caught the Court’s eye was the 13-month delay in filing that FIR, coupled with the lack of medical evidence supporting the claims of coercion or unnatural sex. “Even if we accept her version at face value, her conduct—visiting him repeatedly, maintaining the relationship over a year, checking into lodges together—doesn’t align with the allegations of non-consensual sex,” the Court noted.
It also highlighted that there was no trace of threat, intimidation, or force that could legally justify a Section 506 charge either.
The Court found that the complaint, when stripped of emotional overlays, seemed more retaliatory than factual—motivated perhaps by the pain of rejection rather than a pursuit of justice.
Declaring that continuing prosecution would serve neither the law nor justice, and noting that the accused was just 25 years old with an entire life ahead of him, the Court quashed the proceedings. The High Court’s earlier refusal to intervene was set aside.
The judgment sends a sharp signal: criminal courts are not substitutes for heartbreak clinics, and invoking rape laws as retribution for failed relationships not only harms the accused but undermines the seriousness of the offence itself.