Overview
- The Supreme Court discharged Santosh Kumar N P on October 30, 2026 and held that physical intimacy during a functioning consensual relationship cannot automatically be treated as rape simply because the relationship later ended.
- The bench said courts must draw a clear line between consent vitiated by deception or fraud from the outset and regret over consensual acts after a relationship breaks down.
- The court warned that criminal law is being weaponised after breakups and urged High Courts to exercise inherent powers under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure to quash prosecutions where the record shows sustained consensual intimacy.
- Justices B V Nagarathna and R Mahadevan noted false accusations cause lasting stigma and harassment for the accused but also reiterated that rape remains heavily under‑reported and genuine cases must be pursued vigorously.
- The ruling is likely to prompt more quash petitions and require trial courts and prosecutors to examine the facts of relationships holistically so that real sexual violence is prosecuted while personal disputes are not channelled into criminal law.