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Kuldeep Singh v. The State of Punjab

Criminal Appeal · 2025 INSC 137Decided 31 Jan 2025
Crl.A. No.-000520-000520 - 2025
Justice Vikram Nath · Justice Prasanna B. Varale

Background

An FIR was lodged against Kuldeep Singh alleging he had abducted a woman who worked at an insurance company. Kuldeep's case was that he and the woman had married each other by their own free will under Sikh rites, against her family's wishes, and had even obtained police protection from the High Court as a couple. After returning to her parental home, the woman gave a statement alleging rape and forced marriage, and additional charges (including against Kuldeep's mother and brother) were added. A police investigation (via a Special Investigation Team) found the marriage was consensual and cleared the mother and brother entirely, leaving only the rape and criminal-intimidation charges against Kuldeep. The High Court refused to quash the FIR, so Kuldeep appealed to the Supreme Court.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court allowed the appeal and quashed the FIR. It noted that neither the complainant nor the alleged victim appeared before the Court despite notice, and that the victim's own written statement (filed in Kuldeep's separate case for restitution of conjugal rights) made no allegation of rape or forced marriage. Since the investigation had already confirmed the marriage was voluntary, the Court held that Kuldeep, being the woman's legally wedded husband, fell within Exception 2 to Section 375 IPC, meaning intercourse with his own wife cannot legally constitute rape. With no prima facie case remaining, continuing the prosecution would serve no purpose.

Lesson Learnt

Under the law as it stood at the time (Exception 2 to Section 375 IPC), sexual relations between legally married spouses could not be prosecuted as rape, and courts can quash a "dead" criminal case where the complainant and victim decline to pursue it and the marriage's voluntary nature has already been established by investigation.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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