LUCKNOW: The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court has discharged Congress MP Rakesh Rathore in a rape case registered in UP’s Sitapur, saying the material placed before it suggested that he and the complainant had been in a long-standing consensual relationship, according to news PTI.In an order passed on Friday, Justice Subhash Vidyarthi said the allegation that Rathore had entered into a physical relationship with the woman after promising to marry her did not, at the preliminary stage, create a strong suspicion that he had committed the alleged offence.According to the court, the complainant said she first came in contact with Rathore at public meetings. He later offered her political support and an alliance, which she accepted. She was subsequently appointed district women president of the Tailik Mahasangh, following which their closeness increased, the court noted.The court also considered the statement of the complainant’s husband, who said Rathore frequently called her to his residence and that she would at times stay there until late at night.“On the basis of the aforesaid circumstances, the prosecution material indicates a long-standing consensual extramarital relationship between two married and mature adults,” the court observed.The court said this account was inconsistent with the allegation that Rathore had established the relationship by promising to marry the complainant.It also examined statements given by the complainant’s husband, her married son and daughter-in-law, who had backed her allegations against Rathore.The high court said the prosecution’s version contained circumstances that, in its view, could not be accepted by a person of ordinary prudence. It therefore concluded that the material did not create a strong suspicion that Rathore had committed the alleged offence.“Continuing criminal proceedings on the basis of such contradictory and unfounded allegations would amount to an abuse of the process of law and result in a failure of justice,” it said.The complainant had filed an FIR at Kotwali police station in Sitapur in January 2025, alleging that Rathore raped her in 2020. She also alleged that he later continued the relationship after assuring her that he would divorce his wife and marry her.Police registered a case against Rathore under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code.Rathore’s discharge plea was earlier rejected by the trial court, which subsequently framed charges against him. The high court has now set aside the trial court’s May 5, 2025 order and allowed Rathore’s application for discharge.The court further held that the framing of charges did not prevent it from exercising its revisional jurisdiction to examine whether the discharge proceedings were lawful.
