In Brief
A medical officer was accused of rape by an assistant nurse with whom he had maintained a long-term consensual relationship based on a promise to marry. The woman alleged that when she discovered he had married another woman, she filed an FIR. The Supreme Court held that where a woman freely consents to a sexual relationship based on love and a promise of marriage, having taken a conscious decision with full knowledge of the situation, the subsequent breach of the marriage promise does not convert consensual sex into rape. The Court distinguished rape from consensual relationships and quashed the FIR, finding the allegations did not prima facie constitute rape under Section 376(2)(b) IPC.
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