Two documents – solemn undertakings signed by a young couple five and a half months apart – have played a decisive role in the acquittal of a youth accused of rape on the false promise of marriage in Gujarat.

The first document, a “maitri karar” or live-in relationship agreement, was signed in late 2019, by which a man and a woman, neither of whom was of legal marriageable age at the time, committed in writing to a life together.

The second document followed in early 2020, cancelling the first document and ending the commitment of the two parties to each other.

The day after the second document was signed, an FIR was registered on the complaint of the woman, accusing the man of rape.

More than six years later, the Gujarat High Court on October 21 held that a quarrel between romantic partners “cannot be given colour of a criminal prosecution”, and upheld the acquittal of the man.

A Division Bench of Justices Ilesh J Vora and R T Vachhani found no reason to interfere with a January 31 judgment of an…