In a shocking ruling, the Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court granted bail to a man accused of raping a minor girl. The court observed that the alleged sexual relationship between the accused and the minor girl was out of a love affair and not lust.
The ruling was given by a single-judge bench of Justice Urmila Joshi-Phalke who noted that the minor girl had left her parents’ house on her own. As per reports, the minor in her statement to the police admitted her “love relationship” with the accused.
The court took into account the fact that the minor girl stayed with the accused at various places and did not raise any grievance that she was forcefully taken away.
Justice Joshi-Phalke stated that it was apparent that the minor accompanied the accused out of a love affair. Moreover, the accused is also of a tender age of 26-years-old. And that it is out of a love affair that the two came together.
The court said, “The applicant is also of a tender age of 26 years, and they come together out of a love affair. It seems that the alleged incident of sexual relationship is out of the attraction between the two young persons and it is not the case that the applicant has subjected the victim to a sexual assault out of lust.”
As per the case details, the accused lived in the same neighbourhood as the minor girl, who was 13 years old at the time of the incident.
On 23rd August 2020, the girl left her house on the pretext of bringing a book from her classmate. When she did not return, her family filed an FIR with the Anjangaon Surji Police Station in the Amravati disrict.
The girl had left her house and had joined the accused. The duo was raced in Bangalore and when they returned, the accused was arrested on 30th August 2020. The accused has been in custody ever since.
He was booked for offences of rape under sections of IPC and offences under the POCSO Act, 2012. The accused argued that the girl had left her house out of her own accord and there was no forceful sexual act.
The State countered by calling the case a heinous one and that the girl’s age invalidated her consent to the sexual relationship. The State contended that no leniency should be shown to the accused.
The court noted that there was no progress in the trial even when the chargesheet was filed in 2020. “The trial will take its own time for the final disposal. In view of the same, further incarceration the applicant is not required and no purpose will be served by keeping him behind bars,” the court ruled.
