Bombay High Court quashes rape case against lawyer

The Bombay High Court has quashed an FIR registered against a lawyer for rape, criminal intimidation and cheating that had been registered by his schoolmate who he was legally assisting.
The case against the lawyer was that he and the woman had been classmates from school. However, she had gone to the USA after marriage and returned to Pune with her child as her relations with her husband were strained.
When the woman came back to Pune, she contacted the lawyer as she wanted to file legal proceedings against her estranged husband and secure a divorce. The lawyer helped her and for the legal counselling in Pune, he charged Rs 5 lakhs.
In the meantime, the lawyer too moved to Pune, and they got into a relationship. During the Covid-19 pandemic, his financial condition was slightly strained, so the lawyer sought about 28 lakh loan in 2020. The lawyer claimed that by 2022 he had returned the loan amount, but the woman kept asking him for Rs 5 lakhs to be returned, which was agreed between them to be his professional fees.
The woman had secured a divorce in 2021 and was intending to marry the lawyer. However, she claimed to have found out that he was having affairs with other women, so she left him and sought that he return Rs 10 lakhs that was still pending with him.
In the meantime, the lawyer claimed that he had returned all that he had taken as a loan and what was only remaining was Rs 5 lakhs, which was his professional fees. He made a private complaint against the woman in Mumbai as well as the Pune Magistrate court seeking that an FIR be registered against the woman for threat and extortion.
Advocate Satyavrat Joshi, appearing for the lawyer while seeking quashing of the woman’s rape FIR submitted that the woman had registered the rape FIR only as a counterblast to the two private complaints.
A bench of Justices Bharti Dangre and Manjusha Deshpande observed from the facts of the case that, the lawyer and the woman being two consenting adults had indulged in a relationship which had gone wrong and sour. As a result, the respective parties have filed criminal proceedings against each other. If the criminal procedures are allowed to be continued, it is not likely to result in a conviction. Therefore, it would amount to abuse of process of law if such proceedings are allowed to be continued.
The bench thus proceeded to quash the FIR and chargesheet along with proceedings in the case against the accused.