"It appears that the offence was registered by the police when she was in a confused state of mind," said a division bench headed by Justice V M Kanade.
Accepting a woman's version that she was in a confused state of mind at the time of filing a rape complaint against her boyfriend, the Bombay High Court has quashed the case.
The court interviewed the complainant and the accused and came to the conclusion that the woman had complained of rape when she was in a confused state of mind.
"The complainant has no objection if the complaint is quashed. We are satisfied that though the offence which was initially registered as an offence punishable under section 376 IPC (rape), it appears that the offence was registered by the police when she was in a confused state of mind," said a division bench headed by Justice V M Kanade recently.
"In view of the reply filed by Respondent No 2 (victim) in this application, it is obvious that the averments made in the complaint would not constitute an offence punishable under section 376 IPC (rape)," said justices V M Kanade and Nutan Sardessai while quashing the case.
The bench observed that the ratio of judgement of the apex court in the case of Narinder Singh Versus State of Punjab (2014) will squarely apply to this case. "The criminal application, therefore, is allowed in terms of prayer clause (b) (for quashing the case) and is disposed of," the judges said.
According to the affidavit filed by the complainant in the high court, she was a widow and her boyfriend a widower. "The two were in a relationship. The man had promised to the complainant that he would marry her and hence she had given consent for physical relationship with him. Later, he rescinded from the promise. She then filed a police complaint alleging rape," said the affidavit.
In the affidavit, she also stated that she was feeling insecure and, therefore, she was under depression. Under these circumstances, she had filed the complaint with the police. In reply, she further stated that she has no objection if the complaint is quashed.
After hearing the parties and interviewing the accused as well as the complainant, the bench quashed the case saying that the complainant was in a confused state of mind when she had filed the complaint.
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