The Supreme Court has sought a response from the Karnataka government and an MBBS student from a Bengaluru college on a plea by a junior medico for the revival of a rape case which was quashed after he had agreed to marry her as part of a settlement.
A bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Hemant Gupta issued notices to the state government and the accused and directed them to file their replies to the petition within a month.
The petition by the alleged victim claimed that the accused tricked her into believing that he would marry her, while simultaneously practicing deceit in the form of creating circumstances including a demand of Rs 1 crore dowry.
The petition was filed by advocate Siddhartha Jha against an order passed by Karnataka High Court, which had on September 24, last year quashed proceedings in an FIR lodged with Bidadi police station in Ramanagara district for the alleged rape of the MBBS student between 2017-2018 after a compromise was reached between the complainant and the accused.
The petition claimed that the settlement between the parties was based on the forcible consent of the woman. It also contended the high court ignored an SC ruling that there can be no quashing on the basis of settlement or compromise in rape cases.
The victim claimed in her petition before the top court that the accused, being her senior at Rajarajeshwari Medical College, Bengaluru, took advantage of the dominant position over her. According to the petition, the accused made sexual relations with the victim on the promise of marriage.
However, later he refused to marry her and she filed a rape case against him, it said.
The case was later quashed as both the parties agreed to a settlement where the accused promised to marry the woman as soon as their course was completed. Immediately after the case was quashed, however, the accused started antagonising and ill-treating the woman and her family, it is alleged.
(Published 17 July 2021, 12:35 IST)
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