Rape FIR against Navi Mumbai man quashed

The woman informed HC that the accused, who was her colleague, had expressed his willingness to marry her but she had rejected the proposal, as he professes another religion.She said that she is a single mother and did not want to complicate her life by marrying the accused.

The Bombay high court (HC) recently struck down a rape case filed against a Navi Mumbai resident, after the complainant woman filed a plea to quash the criminal proceedings against the accused.

“Consequently, no fruitful purpose will be served by continuing with the prosecution, especially when both the parties have parted their ways and are leading their lives separately.” (Raj K Raj/HT Photo)

The woman told the division bench of justice Ranjit More and justice Bharati Dangre that the relationship was consensual. She said that when she filed the complaint last year, she merely wanted the police to reprimand him and did not expect that a first information report (FIR) would be registered.

The woman informed HC that the accused, who was her colleague, had expressed his willingness to marry her but she had rejected the proposal, as he professes another religion.She said that she is a single mother and did not want to complicate her life by marrying the accused.

“I am a divorcee with a 14-year-old daughter from an earlier marriage and I do not want to complicate my life further by entering into a marital relationship with respondent no 2 [accused]. I do not want to marry respondent no 2 at all. I do not think that we will be happy in the marital relationship,” she said.

The bench struck down the criminal case noting that the FIR and affidavit of the woman made it abundantly clear that she and the accused were serving in the same company, were on friendly terms and were both majors at the time of the incident.

“Consequently, no fruitful purpose will be served by continuing with the prosecution, especially when both the parties have parted their ways and are leading their lives separately.”