Karnataka High Court: Breakup after consensual relationship not cheating over marriage promise

Mangalore Today News Network

Bengaluru, Oct 23, 2026: A consensual relationship between two adults that ends in a breakup cannot automatically be treated as cheating on the promise of marriage merely because one partner later refuses to marry the other, the Karnataka High Court has observed.

The court also noted that a relationship breaking down due to differences over caste does not, by itself, amount to cheating.

Justice M. Nagaprasanna made the observations while hearing a petition filed by Dr. Ramadas Patil, a doctor from Bidar, seeking to quash a criminal case registered against him, which was pending before the Second Additional District and Sessions Court in Mangaluru.

The court noted that the two individuals were adults and had been in a consensual relationship for around seven years. The subsequent breakdown of the relationship, by itself, did not establish that the accused had a dishonest intention to deceive the woman from the beginning.

The court expressed concern over the increasing tendency to invoke Section 69 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), which deals with sexual intercourse obtained through a deceitful promise of marriage made without any intention of fulfilling it, when long-term consensual relationships turn sour.

What Is the Case?

Both the petitioner and the complainant are doctors who studied at different medical colleges in Mangaluru. They were introduced through mutual friends in Bidar in 2017.

Their friendship developed into a romantic relationship that continued until 2019. They also had a physical relationship between 2017 and 2023.

Differences reportedly arose between them because the woman belonged to a Scheduled Caste. The accused later decided to marry another woman.

Following these developments, the woman lodged a complaint at the Mangaluru Women’s Police Station in 2025. Police subsequently filed a chargesheet in the case.