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Synopsis

The Madras High Court recently set aside the conviction of a man in rape case. Court noted that the man and the alleged victim appeared to have been in a relationship which had resulted in two children.

"There are no rules in love and war and so say the same and this case perhaps stands as a testimony to this statement. Neither prosecution nor conviction separated the prosecutrix and the appellant. At the end of the day, parties are adults and the Constitution of the country does not make a moralistic statement, wherein grant citizens their life to live and if the prosecutrix and the appellant choose their way to live on their free will, there is no precious thing the legal system can do except recording its finding...," said the bench of Justice N Seshasayee.

Court held that the prosecution failed to prove that a crime had occurred. Instead, it opined that perhaps the judicial process was misused, as the prosecutrix may have initiated criminal proceedings with a false FIR.

But then, that is a story of the past and this Court does not intent to revisit the issue, court stressed while allowing the criminal appeal filed by the accused man against his conviction and sentence impose for offences under Sections 376(2) (n), 450 and 506(i) of the IPC.

The case started when the young woman, approximately 20 years old at the time, filed a complaint in May 2012 stating that while she was living with her maternal grandmother, the accused, a distant relative and neighbor, entered her home one day, forcibly committed her rape under intimidation.

The FIR was registered after the woman had begotten a child. The child's DNA test confirmed that the accused was the father. 

Post trial, on appreciating the evidence before it, in June 2017, the trial court found the accused guilty of all the charges laid against him and sentenced him to undergo rigorous imprisonment for 5 years for offence under Section 450 of the IPC, rigorous imprisonment for 10 years for offence under Section 376 (2) (n) of the IPC and rigorous imprisonment for 1 year for offence under Section 506 (i) of the IPC along with fine. 

The accused challenged this decision before the high court. His counsel argued that the woman was an adult and on her own will she had been in a relationship with the accused. The counsel also pointed out that the woman filed the FIR only after she got pregnant. 

The high court acquitted the accused of all charges and ordered that the fine amount, if any paid, to be refunded to him. 

Case Title: G.Selvam v. The State