SC converts rape conviction into consensual adultery

The Supreme Court has converted a rape conviction into a case of consensual adultery, reducing the sentence of the accused from 20 years' imprisonment to five years' rigorous imprisonment and lowering the fine from Rs500,000 to Rs10,000. In default of payment, the accused will undergo an additional two months' imprisonment.

According to a six-page detailed judgment authored by Justice Malik Shahzad Khan and approved for reporting, the majority of the bench held that the evidence on record did not prove the offence of rape but established consensual sexual relations.

However, Justice Salahuddin Panhor dissented from the majority decision.

The court observed that although, in cases of consensual adultery, the complainant may also be liable to punishment, the complainant in the present case was neither challaned nor given an opportunity of defence during the trial. Therefore, the Supreme Court ruled that no punishment could be imposed on her at the appellate stage without granting a hearing.

Referring to the facts of the case, the court noted that the FIR was lodged nearly seven months after the alleged incident. The prosecution failed to explain how the accused knew that the complainant would be present at the location at a specific time.

The judgment pointed out that the complainant did not resist during the incident, no marks of violence or injuries were found in the medical report, and the complainant's clothes were neither produced as evidence nor shown to be torn.

Justice Salahuddin Panhor, in his dissenting note, held that the case was one of rape and that the conviction should have been upheld.

He observed that many rape cases go unreported due to social pressure, stigma, and threats, and delay in lodging an FIR should not be used against the victim. He also noted that lack of resistance in the presence of a weapon and absence of injuries after months were not unusual in such cases.