Premarital physical relationship not a reflection of character: Supreme Court
A premarital physical relationship between two consenting adults cannot, by itself, be a ground to question an individual’s character, the Supreme Court said on Monday while setting aside cancellation of a Telangana police constable candidate’s appointment. A general view of the Supreme Court of India in New Delhi. The case pertained to Gajula Thirupathi whose candidature as a a Stipendiary Cadet Trainee Police Constable (SCTPC) was cancelled by the Recruitment Board over his involvement in a criminal case that arose from a complaint filed by his neighbour, who alleged that he had been in a relationship with her for several years on the promise of marriage before eventually marrying another woman, news agency PTI reported. A bench of Justices Manmohan and Manoj Misra noted all romantic relationships do not culminate in marriage, and the mere fact that a relationship ends without marriage cannot lead to the presumption that one party deceived the other. Dispute and a criminal case Thirupathi’s dispute was subsequently settled, and the criminal proceedings were compounded before a Lok Adalat in 2015. …
