Married Woman Cannot Claim Consent Was Induced By Promise of Marriage: Kerala HC

Ernakulam: The Kerala High Court has quashed an FIR registered against a man accused of inducing a woman into sexual intercourse on a false promise of marriage, holding that since the de facto complainant was admittedly a married woman whose husband was alive, the essential ingredients of the offence under Section 69 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 were not made out even on a plain reading of the allegations.

Justice Jobin Sebastian was hearing a petition filed under Section 528 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 by the sole accused in Crime No. 1440/2025 of Kovalam Police Station, registered for offences under Section 69 of the BNS and Section 66E of the Information Technology Act, 2008, seeking quashing of the FIR and all further proceedings.

As per the prosecution case, the petitioner had made a false promise to marry the de facto complainant and took her to a hotel at Kovalam where he allegedly had sexual intercourse with her after mixing sedatives in her food, and had also taken and sent her nude photographs over WhatsApp Messenger. Counsel for the petitioner submitted that the disputes between the parties had been amicably settled, and the de facto complainant had filed an affidavit stating that the matter had been resolved at the intervention of the petitioner's family and seeking quashing of the proceedings. The Senior Public Prosecutor, on instructions from the Investigating Officer, confirmed the settlement and that the complainant was no longer interested in pursuing the prosecution.

The Court held that since the offence alleged was grave and serious in nature, involving an element of societal interest, the matter could not be treated as a purely private dispute, and the criminal proceedings could not be quashed solely on the basis of the settlement. It therefore proceeded to examine the merits of the allegations.

Noting that Section 69 of the BNS penalises sexual intercourse induced by deceitful means or by a promise of marriage made without any intention of fulfilling it, the Court observed that it was undisputed that the de facto complainant was a married woman with two children, and that her own First Information Statement showed that her husband was alive. On this basis, the Court held that a married woman who voluntarily goes with another man to a hotel room and has sexual intercourse with him cannot, on the strength of an alleged promise of marriage alone, claim that her consent was “induced solely by such promise, particularly when her subsisting marriage was not in dispute.”

Accordingly, the Court held that even taking the allegations in the FIS at face value, the essential ingredients of an offence under Section 69 of the BNS were not made out, and that it could not be said that the consent for the sexual relationship was induced by any false promise to marry or other deceitful means. The Court further observed that, in view of the settlement between the parties, the possibility of a successful prosecution was remote and bleak, and that continuation of the proceedings would serve no useful purpose and would amount to an abuse of the process of law.

The petition was accordingly allowed, and the FIR along with all further proceedings pursuant thereto against the petitioner, were quashed in exercise of the powers conferred under Section 528 of the BNSS, 2023.

Appearances:

Shri. Mithun P., Shri. Afsal Khan H. and Smt. Merin Thomas, Advocates for the Petitioner/Accused; Smt. Megha K. Xavier, Sr. P.P., for Respondent No. 1-State.

Case Title: Habibur Rahman vs. State of Kerala & Anr., Crl.MC No. 4354 of 2026