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The Kerala High Court has quashed criminal proceedings against a 31-year-old Assam native accused of having sexual intercourse with a married woman after allegedly promising to marry her, observing that the essential ingredients of the offence under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) were not made out.
Justice Jobin Sebastian passed the order on September 3, 2026, in a petition filed by Habibur Rahman, the sole accused. The case involved allegations under Section 69 (sexual intercourse by deceitful means or promise to marry) of the BNS and Section 66E (violation of privacy) of the Information Technology Act, 2008.
According to the prosecution, Rahman allegedly made a false promise to marry the complainant and took her to a hotel in Kovalam on November 3, 2025. It was alleged that he had sexual intercourse with her after mixing sedatives in the food given to her. He was also accused of taking nude photographs of the woman and sending them to her through WhatsApp.
The accused approached the High Court seeking to quash the FIR and subsequent proceedings, stating that the dispute had been amicably settled. The woman also filed an affidavit saying that the matter had been settled following the intervention of the accused’s family members and that she was no longer interested in pursuing the case.
However, the court made it clear that the proceedings could not be quashed merely because the parties had reached a settlement.
“Undisputedly, the offence alleged in the present case is grave and serious in nature,” the court said, adding that the case could not be treated as “a purely private dispute” because it involved an element of societal interest.
The court therefore proceeded to examine whether the allegations, even if accepted at face value, actually disclosed an offence under Section 69 of the BNS.
Section 69 deals with sexual intercourse obtained through deceitful means or through a promise to marry made without any intention of fulfilling it. The provision carries imprisonment of up to 10 years and a fine.
The High Court noted that the complainant was a married woman with two children and that her husband was alive. The court said this fact was evident from the First Information Statement (FIS) on the basis of which the case was registered.
“In such circumstances, a married woman who voluntarily accompanies another man to a hotel room and has sexual intercourse with him cannot, merely on the basis of an allegation of a promise of marriage, contend that the sexual relationship was induced solely by such promise,” the court held.
The court further observed that the complainant’s existing marriage was not in dispute.
“Even if the allegations contained in the FIR are taken at face value and accepted in their entirety, the essential ingredients required to constitute an offence under Section 69 of the BNS are not made out,” Justice Jobin Sebastian said.
The court held that the materials did not establish that the woman’s consent to the sexual relationship was induced by a false promise of marriage or any other deceitful means.
“Consequently, the materials placed on record do not disclose the commission of an offence under Section 69 of the BNS,” the order stated.
The court also took note of the settlement between the parties and held that the possibility of a successful prosecution was remote. “The continuation of the criminal proceedings would serve no useful purpose and would only amount to an abuse of the process of law,” the court said.
The High Court consequently allowed the petition and quashed the FIR registered at Kovalam police station and all further proceedings against Rahman.
