Jabalpur, March 16 The Madhya Pradesh High Court has quashed an FIR accusing a married Army officer of raping a policewoman under the guise of marriage, observing that their relationship was consensual and the case appears to be a tactic used by the complainant to pressure the officer.
A single bench of Justice Vinay Saraf, in an order passed on March 11, held that the case appeared to have been filed after the relationship between the two soured.
"It appears that due to the failure of the relationship between the petitioner (Army officer) and the complainant (policewoman), the complainant has lodged this FIR to pressure the petitioner to continue the relationship," the bench stated.
The bench said that, considering the long relationship between the petitioner and the complainant, it was difficult to believe that a physical relationship had developed based on a false promise of marriage.
"In light of this, this court finds that the petitioner is able to demonstrate that this is not a case of rape, but a case of consensual relationship," the HC noted.
The bench further observed that the filing of the FIR appeared to be an abuse of the legal process and allowed the Army officer's petition seeking the quashing of the FIR registered last year at the Mahila Thana in Bhopal.
"This court finds no material or evidence in the FIR to suggest that the petitioner has committed any offence under sections 69 (sexual intercourse obtained through deceitful means or false promise to marry) or 351(2) (criminal intimidation) of the BNS," the high court said.
According to the FIR, the policewoman first met the officer at the Army canteen in the Shahjahanabad area of Bhopal on December 23, 2012, after which they started talking on mobile phones.
The complainant alleged that the officer falsely claimed to be single and promised to marry her. They subsequently had physical relations and continued to meet several times thereafter.
She later came to know in 2013 that the officer was already married, the FIR said.
When she confronted him, he allegedly told her that his wife had a bad character and that they were not living together. He assured her that he would obtain a divorce and marry her in the future, it said.
The relationship between the two continued until 2025, when the complainant allegedly found that the officer was also in contact with other women and had made similar assurances to them.
The FIR alleged that the officer later threatened her, following which she approached the police.