Supreme Court quashes rape case lodged after 34 years

Satya Prakash

New Delhi, January 14

The Supreme Court has quashed the criminal proceedings against a man accused of raping a minor, noting that the FIR was registered after a gap of 34 years on the basis of a bald statement that the prosecutrix was a minor at the time of the offence.

“We see from the finding of the investigating officer that the case was filed only for the greed for the property of the appellant, herein cannot be said to be erroneous,” a Bench led by Bench of Justice BR Gavai said, adding, “The continuation of the proceedings would lead to nothing else but an abuse of process of law.”

Allowing accused Suresh Garodia’s appeal against the Gauhati High Court’s August 22, 2022, order dismissing his plea for quashing the rape case, the Bench on January 9 said, “The material on record shows that the relationship was consensual, inasmuch as the son who is born out of the said relationship has been treated by the appellant as his son and all the facilities, including cash money, have been provided to him.”

The prosecutrix had filed a complaint in 2016, alleging that when she was 15 year-year-old, she was raped by the appellant and a son was born out of the relationship in 1983. However, she admitted in his statement that the appellant was providing money and other facilities to him as the son.

“We find that lodging a case after 34 years and that too on the basis of a bald statement that the prosecutrix was a minor at the time of commission of offence, could itself be a ground to quash the proceedings. No explanation whatsoever is given in the FIR as to why the prosecutrix was keeping silent for a long period of 34 years”, noted the Bench which also included Justice Sandeep Mehta.