Complainant Being A Social Worker Ought To Have Raised Sexual Assault Complaint Without Much Delay: Kerala HC Quashes Rape Case

The Kerala High Court quashed further proceedings in a rape case on account that the complainant being a social worker ought to have raised the complaint of sexual assault on the very next day of the incident or without much delay.

The Court was deciding a criminal miscellaneous case filed by the accused seeking quashing of final report.

A Single Bench of Justice A. Badharudeen said, “The contents of Annexure A7 extracted herein above would show that the defacto complainant filed complaints against various persons and some crimes also were registered, but the same itself is not a reason to disbelieve this case. However, the defacto complainant, being a social worker, ought to have raised the complaint of sexual assault committed on her on 31.12.2019 on the very next day or without much delay, if such an occurrence happened or if happened without her consent.”

Advocate A.N. Rajan Babu represented the petitioner while Senior Public Prosecutor Renjit George represented the respondents.

Facts of the Case -

The prosecution allegation was that on January 31, 2019, while the complainant was staying at the house of the petitioner/accused at night and when she hardly slept after taking a tablet for fever during midnight, the accused reached her bedroom and subjected her to sexual intercourse. Accordingly, the prosecution alleged offences punishable under Section 376 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). While seeking quashment of proceedings, the counsel for the petitioner mainly urged that the entire case was foisted without any bonafides.

The counsel for the petitioner also pointed out the long delay in lodging the FIR and the attending circumstances. As per the counsel, the complainant used to file complaints against persons with ulterior motives. It was also pointed out that even though the incident happened on the said date, FIR was registered only on May 13, 2019 i.e., after a long delay of about 3.5 months. Hence, the accused was before the High Court.

The High Court in the above context of the case observed, “In this case it is discernible that the defacto complainant made acquaintance with the accused and Ambika teacher and accepted their offer to be a part of Human Rights Justice Vigilance Council, where the accused was the President. Later she being a part of the organisation, attended certain functions and also she was invited to 2 more functions. The alleged occurrence, according to the defacto complainant, was also when she voluntarily reached the house of the accused and stayed at his house. Even though the defacto complainant alleges sexual molestation at the hands of the accused in between 31.12.2018 and 01.02.2019, she did not disclose the same till 13.05.2019, as already stated.”

The Court further noted that the quashment of criminal proceedings can be resorted to when the prosecution materials do not constitute materials to attract the offence alleged to be committed and similarly, the Court owes a duty to look into the other attending circumstances, over and above the averments, to see whether there are materials to indicate that a criminal proceeding is manifestly attended with mala fide intention and instituted maliciously with ulterior motives. It added that once the said fact is established, the same is a good reason to quash the criminal proceedings.

“Having gone through the prosecution allegations, it is discernible that the allegation of sexual assault, if any, is true, then the same is a consensual one. Therefore, the quashment prayed at the instance of the petitioner is liable to be allowed”, it said.

Accordingly, the High Court allowed the criminal miscellaneous case and quashed the further proceedings.

Cause Title- K.S. Sivarajan v. State of Kerala & Ors. (Neutral Citation: 2024:KER:58353)

Appearance:

Petitioner: Advocates A.N. Rajan Babu and P. Gopalakrishnan.

Respondents: Sr. PP Renjit George and Advocate K. Shaj.

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