In an extraordinary and humane decision, the Supreme Court canceled the ten-year sentence of a young man who was convicted in a similar case. The court ultimately termed it a ‘misunderstanding of consensual relationship’.
The top court said that this is one of those rare cases where justice was delivered on the basis of ‘sixth sense’.
What is the whole matter?
The matter actually started from the friendship of two people and the love affair that developed between them. Both were identified through social media in 2015. The relationship gradually deepened and physical relations were also formed with mutual consent. The girl and her family had no objection to this relationship, because the talk of marriage was moving forward from the beginning. But some circumstances changed with time. The wedding date kept getting postponed, due to which insecurity started developing in the girl’s mind and in 2021, she lodged an FIR against the young man making serious allegations under sections 376 and 376(2)(n) of the IPC.
Trial court sentenced 10 years imprisonment
Accepting this complaint, the trial court sentenced the young man to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment. The young man approached the High Court but did not get relief from there either. After this the matter reached the Supreme Court and from here the case took a completely different turn.
SC heard the humanitarian aspect of the case
Justice B. A two-judge bench of Justice V. Nagarathna and Justice Satish Chandra Sharma issued the notice in March. During the hearing he realized that the matter was more human than legal and documents alone were not enough to understand its exact nature. Therefore, in a unique step, the court directed the victim, the accused and the parents of both the parties to appear in person in the Supreme Court.
Court granted bail for marriage
All parties appeared in court in July. The judges spoke to him personally in the chamber. During the conversation it became clear that the relationship between the two was actually cordial and the root of the complaint was misunderstandings and insecurity arising from the postponement of the marriage. When both of them told the judges that they wanted to get married and both the families also confirmed this, the court granted special bail to the accused to get married.
If the marriage is successful then the court ends the case.
Both of them got married in July. Then the case was listed again in December, where the court was told that the couple was living a happy married life. This was the moment when the court finalized this long, complicated and emotionally heavy case.
The Supreme Court said that this case is extraordinary. Because in this the person who came seeking bail was ultimately completely freed from both his conviction and punishment. Using Article 142 of the Constitution, the bench said that justice will be considered complete only when a solution is found after understanding the reality of the situation. The court accepted that this case was basically an extension of a consensual relationship, which was transformed into a crime due to misunderstandings.
The court also got the job back
The court not only canceled the sentence but also corrected the impact on the job of the accused. The youth was working in a government hospital and was suspended due to the case. The Supreme Court ordered that his job be reinstated and the entire outstanding salary for the suspension period be paid. The Chief Medical and Health Officer (CMO) of Sagar district of Madhya Pradesh was directed to withdraw the suspension order.
Meaning of SC’s decision
This decision of the Supreme Court is not just the end of a criminal case. It also points to the human aspect of the justice system, where courts try to understand not just the language of law but also the realities of life and the complexities of relationships.