Supreme Court Justices B.V. Nagarathna and R. Mahadevan warned in a verdict that ending a consensual relationship should not be treated as rape.
The bench, hearing petitions from parties who argued that the law was being misused to target men, said the trend of reframing consensual liaisons as sexual assault is alarming.
They distinguished between cases where consent was obtained through deception and those where a man simply regrets a past affair, noting that the latter does not constitute deceit or fraud.
The judges emphasised that rape remains a grave offence and must be reserved for actual violence or coercion, otherwise the term loses its gravity.
Law enforcement agencies were urged to investigate genuine assault cases thoroughly while avoiding blanket prosecutions of broken relationships.
The ruling is expected to influence upcoming legal reforms and police training programmes, setting a precedent for clearer jurisprudence on sexual consent.