New Delhi: Stating that rape is a crime against society, the Delhi high court has refused to quash a sexual assault case against a Merchant Navy cadet. The accused had sought setting aside of the case on the ground that he had married the victim, and earlier he had physical relations with her consent. The couple had fallen in love 2005. However, the accused later married to another in 2012 when his parents refused to give their consent to marry the victim as she was a different caste. Following this, the victim lodged an FIR at the Timarpur police station accusing him of raping her. But the relationship between the two was again restored when the accused divorced his first wife in 2015.

Later, they got married in May this year. Armed with the marriage certificates, the accused sought to quash the FIR stating that the trial proceedings would be futile as the victim would not support the prosecution. “In view of settled legal position, the criminal proceedings emanating from an FIR with allegations of rape, which is an offence against society, despite the alleged marriage of the petitioner with the complainant, cannot be quashed.”