The Court noted that a settlement had apparently been entered into between the parties and even if the Court is not accepting the same, the financial transactions would have to be given weightage.
Monday saw the Supreme Court suspend the sentence of a man accused of non-consensual, unnatural relations with his wife, granting him bail. Justices AS Bopanna and PV Sanjay Kumar, overseeing the case, noted specific financial transactions between the spouses. While the Court didn’t entirely support any settlement, it deemed the transactions essential factors to consider in the proceedings, hinting at a potential resolution between the parties.
“What persuades us to consider the prayer is that, as already noted, the appellant and the respondent are husband and wife and even, at this moment, if we do not accept the settlement entered into between the parties, the fact remains that certain financial transactions were also involved and these are aspects which would be looked into subsequently,” the bench observed.
The Court made it clear that the person under consideration wasn’t a seasoned criminal but instead the spouse of the complainant.
“In a matter of the present nature, as we are not considering the suspension of sentence of a hardened criminal but, as already indicated, the appellant is the husband of the respondent, we deem it appropriate that the balance would tilt in favour of the appellant for grant of the prayer,” the Court said.
The Sessions Court acquitted the husband of rape and cruelty charges against his wife but upheld his conviction for engaging in unnatural sex under Section 377 IPC and for voluntarily causing harm. In March, the Chhattisgarh High Court refused to suspend his sentence or grant interim bail, leading to an appeal to the Supreme Court. After reviewing a potential settlement between the parties and examining financial transactions, the Supreme Court granted the requested relief, with bail being provided according to the trial court’s conditions.
