Supreme Court lets off man, says consensual sex after 16 years is not rape

The Supreme Court has acquitted a man of the charge of rape after noting that the woman had consensual sex with him and was above 16 years, which is not an offence under Indian laws.

A bench of Justice Markandeya Katju and Justice Gyan Sudha Misra, in a judgment, however, asked KP Thimmappa Gowda to transfer within three months two acres of his lands to the woman since he had married another woman after promising to marry her.

"In the present case, the facts are that the victim herself stated in her evidence that she had sex with the appellant on several occasions. It is also an admitted fact that the FIR against the appellant was lodged just a few days before the birth of the victim's child, which means there is a delay of over 8 months in lodging the FIR.

"The finding of the trial court, which has not been disturbed by the High Court, is that the victim was about 18 years of age at the relevant time. On these facts, a view is reasonably possible that the victim had sex with the appellant with her consent and hence there was no offence under Section 376 IPC (rape) because sex with a woman above 16 years of age with her consent is not rape," Justice Katju writing the judgment said.