Kochi: The Kerala High Court on Monday reserved its order on the petitions seeking cancellation of the order granting anticipatory bail to Congress MLA Eldhose Kunnappillil in the case accusing him of rape and attempt to murder a woman.
Justice Kauser Edappagath, during the arguments today, said: “Even in a case where 100 times you consent for sexual relations, if you do not give consent to the 101st time, it amounts to rape. No doubt.”
The court also said: "Initially there was love, then rape, followed by certain consensual acts, and then love again. It appears to be an unusual story, but still, if any of those were not consensual, of course, rape is effected. But all these sequences of events have to be read together.”
According to Live Law, the court observed that Section 376 of the IPC was added later to the case in the additional statement. "That shows that this sexual assault was nowhere in the picture in the earlier stage. It was not in the FIR either.”
The Additional Sessions Court in Thiruvananthapuram had earlier granted anticipatory bail to the MLA. A S J Prasun Mohan in the order said the survivor in her first complaint dated September 28 never "asserted" that the accused raped her "on any dates before the date of presenting the complaint". The survivor was well aware of the fact that the accused is a married man maintaining a family relationship, the court had said.
(With Live Law inputs)