KOCHI: The High Court has quashed a rape case saying if the prosecution is permitted to continue it will cause hardship to the woman.
The court issued the order on a petition filed by a man from Thiruvananthapuram seeking to quash the case in which his wife is the complainant.
“The facts of the case would reveal a long-term love affair between two young people which weathered all storms and ended up in the altar of marriage. In the peculiar facts of the instant case, grave hardship and inconvenience will be caused to the girl if the prosecution is permitted to continue. When the woman has asserted she is not desirous of prosecuting her husband any further, the prospects of an ultimate conviction is remote and bleak,” the court said.
The petitioner and the girl were schoolmates and in love. The girl soon went missing and her mother approached the Pettah police. The police traced her and produced her before the court. Investigation revealed the boy and girl had engaged in sexual intercourse and hence a rape case was registered. When both the parties attained the age of consent, their marriage was conducted.
The order said the Supreme Court has held that heinous and serious offences of mental depravity or offences like murder, rape and dacoity cannot be quashed even though the victim or victim’s family and the offender have settled the dispute.