CUTTACK: The Orissa High Court has acquitted a 25-year-old man who was convicted in a rape case by a Fast Track Court in Koraput district, observing that consensual relationships between adults cannot later be turned into criminal prosecutions unless lack of consent is clearly established.
The single judge bench of Justice SK Panigrahi set aside the July 10, 2025 conviction order passed by the Additional District and Sessions Judge (Fast Track) Special Court, Jeypore, in the 2022 case. Advocate Subodh Kumar Mohanty argued on behalf of the convict Pankaj Choudhury, who is presently lodged in Jeypore Jail.
The trial court had convicted the appellant under Sections 376(1) and 450 of the IPC and sentenced him to 10 years rigorous imprisonment. The incident had occured on the night of May 21, 2022, when the victim, a married woman, was alone at her house under Kundura police station limits and her husband was away.
Allowing Choudhury’s criminal appeal, Justice Panigrahi said courts must exercise caution while dealing with allegations arising out of consensual relationships. “Where a mature and married woman voluntarily consents to sexual intercourse and subsequently seeks to characterize the same as an offence of rape, the allegations are required to be examined with greater caution and circumspection,” the Judge observed.
“Mere consensual intimacy, arising out of a voluntary relationship between adults, cannot ipso facto be brought within the ambit of the offence of rape unless the essential ingredients constituting absence of free consent are prima facie established,” he stated.
The High Court found that the prosecution failed to prove absence of consent or criminal intent beyond reasonable doubt. “The prosecution has conspicuously failed to establish the foundational elements of criminal intent and want of consent,” Justice Panigrahi stated, adding that the benefit of doubt must go to the accused.
He also cautioned against misuse of rape laws in failed relationships. “Permitting every failed or strained relationship between consenting adults to be subsequently transformed into a criminal prosecution for the offence of rape would run contrary. to the true spirit, object, and sanctity underlying the law relating to sexual offences,” he said.
Holding that the trial court had improperly appreciated the evidence, Justice Panigrahi quashed the conviction and acquitted the appellant of all charges.
