The Supreme Court of India.
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New Delhi: The Supreme Court has come to rescue of a man, who was convicted of rape on false promise of marriage and sentenced to 10 years imprisonment, after having got its "sixth sense" that the accused and the victim can be brought together if they married each other.
A bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and Satish Chandra Sharma invoked its powers under Article 142 of the Constitution to do complete justice in the matter by quashing the complaint as well as the conviction and sentence passed against appellant, Sandeep Singh Thakur.
"This is one of those rare cases where on the intervention of this court the appellant herein, who had applied to seek suspension of his sentence was ultimately benefitted by quashing of his conviction as well as the sentence,'' the bench said.
When the matter came up before this court by assailing the rejection of suspension of sentence by the Madhya Pradesh High Court, on a consideration of the facts of the case, the bench said, "we had a sixth sense that the appellant and the respondent prosecutrix could be brought together once again if they decided to marry each other."
Dealing with the appellant's plea against rejection of his suspension of the sentence, the court interacted with the appellant and the victim in presence of their parents in chamber.
"Upon hearing them, we were informed that they were willing to marry each other. Hence, we granted interim bail to the appellant herein. The marriage between the parties has taken place on July 22, 2025 and the parties have been residing together since then. Their parents are happy by this development,'' the bench said in a judgment last month.
After quashing the case and the conviction by sessions court in Sagar, the court also ordered the state government to restore the service of the appellant and pay him back wages within two months, as he was removed upon lodging of the case.
As per the prosecution, the appellant met the girl in 2015 on a social media platform and both developed a liking and fondness for each other.
Thereafter, both the parties entered into a consensual physical relationship with each other, while the second respondent claimed that she acted on the alleged false promise of marriage given to her by the appellant herein. She got an FIR lodged against the appellant on November 2, 2021.
Subsequently, the appellant was held guilty under Sections 376(2)(n) and 417 of IPC and sentenced to 10 years jail and Rs 50,000 fine and two years imprisonment with Rs 5,000 fine for both the offences respectively.
"We think that owing to a misunderstanding the consensual relationship between the parties was given a criminal colour and converted into an offence of false promise of marriage whereas the parties, in fact, intended to marry each other. It was only owing to the appellant seeking postponement in the date of marriage which may have led to insecurity in the mind of the respondent prosecutrix and filing of the criminal complaint,'' the bench said, providing relief to the appellant.