Adeeba Akhlaq, Symbiosis Law School, Pune
In the Supreme Court of India
Appellant: Vinod Kumar
Respondent: State of Kerala
Citation: (2014) 5 SCC 678
Judges- K.S. Panicker Radhakrishnan & Vikramajit Sen. Decided On: 04/04/2014
Subject Matter: Criminal matter involving rape and consensual sex.
Facts:
In this case the prosecutrix and the appellant fell in love after a brief telephonic friendship and wanted to marry each other but the same wasn’t possible because the appellant was married leading it to a polygamous marriage. The prosecutrix was aware of the fact that the appellant was married but she obscured it during the entire trial. She deposed with her confidante, Fathima, the marriage pictures of the appellant and confided in her that she would ask the appellant to take divorce or convert to her religion as her religion allowed polygamy. Since the appellant was a Hindu it was necessary for him to convert to be able to remarry while having a living spouse. But the conversion was denied by the Imam of a mosque, only to be carried out after a registered marriage. The prosecutrix and the appellant signed a form of marriage agreement, after the prosecutrix appeared for her examination paper, which made the prosecutrix claim that she was under the belief that she was the legally wedded wife of the appellant and hence entered into sexual relations with him. The prosecutrix filed a case against the appellant on the charges of rape under Section 375 of the Indian Penal Code. The matter of consensual sex was brought forth in this case and it was held by the High Court that the prosecutrix consented to the sexual relations at every stage and was never forced by the appellant.
Comments