Overview

• The court granted anticipatory bail to a 27-year-old accused of raping a third-year medical student, imposing requirements to appear for questioning, avoid contacting the complainant and preserve evidence.
• Justice Bechu Kurian Thomas found no prima facie case of rape after noting the complainant voluntarily traveled from Thiruvananthapuram to Kozhikode and stayed with the accused in lodges for two nights.
• The judgment held that a consensual relationship’s breakdown and a broken marriage promise cannot establish rape without evidence of coercion when the complainant’s marriage remains subsisting.
• The court warned against using arrest and remand as punitive measures in disputes arising from failed romantic relationships.
• The decision reflects a broader judicial trend this year across multiple high courts and the Supreme Court to tighten rape standards in cases rooted in moral grievances rather than demonstrable non-consent.