The Kerala High Court has held that crimes that tarnish women’s dignity and honour such as rape, POCSO Act offences cannot be quashed on compromise or settlement.

However, if the accused and the victim have married and are living together peacefully, this may be a humanitarian reason to allow the case to be dismissed, said the court.

A single Bench of Justice A Badharudeen observed that although settlements in rape cases are not permissible, deviation from the general principle to ensure the well-being of the family and children can be allowed.

The court said that the accused and the victim were married and living happily with two children. It stated that continued litigation would only affect their peaceful family life and that the case could be dropped on humanitarian grounds.

“Thus, settlement of cases, including rape offenses and offenses under the POCSO Act, is not allowed under the law. However, in the present case, although the first accused after maintaining a relationship with the minor victim subjected her to sexual molestation and she became pregnant, since then, the first accused married the victim and now, they live happily with two children. In such cases, the tough nut standing in the way of settlement will be crushed with humanitarian consideration like a hammer so as to ensure peaceful family life of the parties and most importantly ensure the welfare of the children born to them. Therefore, there is no need to continue the criminal proceedings to keep them in the danger of litigation and ruin their married life and children’s welfare. In view of this aspect, by way of departure from the general principle, this is a suitable case, in which the annulment is liable to be granted, ”the court said.

The case of the prosecution was that the accused had allegedly kidnapped the victim (17 years old) from the lawful custody of her guardians/parents and subjected her to sexual intercourse, after detaining her under his illegal custody. As a result of the sexual assault, the minor victim became pregnant. The mother of the victim was also roped in the case as she had allegedly failed to inform the matter to the police.

The petitioners submitted that the matter had been settled between the parties and therefore should be quashed. The victim filed an affidavit supporting their settlement, stating that the accused married her and they had been living happily as husband and wife. A copy of the marriage certificate was also produced.

The petitioners argued that first the accused and the victim got married and were now living happily. It was also said that they now have two children.