The Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court said that having physical relations with a wife under the age of 18 years would amount to rape. A case of rape can also be registered against a person.
The court has upheld the 10-year sentence of the accused on the charge of raping his minor wife. The court said that even consensual physical relations with a minor wife would be considered rape under the law.
The petitioner was convicted under the POCSO Act by the trial court in 2019. After this he appealed to the High Court.
The court said – having sex with a minor is rape, 3 points
- A bench of Justice Govind Sanap dismissed the plea of one person. While upholding his sentence for raping his wife. The contention of the accused was that the physical relations with the victim were consensual. She was his wife at that time. In such a situation it cannot be called rape.
- According to Live Law, in an order issued on November 12, Justice Sanap said, in view of the settled law, it cannot be accepted that the petitioner's physical relationship with the victim's wife would not amount to rape or sexual violence. It is important to note that having sex with a girl below the age of 18 is rape, whether she is married or not.
The High Court said- the accused is the father of the child Justice Sunap also said in the judgment that the prosecution has proved that the victim was below 18 years of age at the time of the crime. The DNA report confirmed that the accused and the victim are the biological parents of the child.
Dismissing the appeal, Justice Sunap said, “After a re-examination of the evidence, I find that the trial judge committed no error.” His decision is correct. I see no reason to reject it or disbelieve it.
What was the whole matter On September 9, 2021, a trial court in Wardha district convicted a youth under the POCSO Act. After this, the youth appealed to the High Court. The appellant was arrested on May 25, 2019 following a complaint by a minor girl. At that time the girl was 31 weeks pregnant. The victim stated that the two were having an affair and the petitioner had forced physical relations with her and kept it going by giving false promises of marriage.
After getting pregnant, the victim asked the man to marry her. However, after this the young man rented a house and conducted a fake marriage in the presence of neighbors and assumed that she was his wife.
According to the report, the youth then forced the victim to have an abortion. When he refused, he was beaten. After this, the victim went to her parents' house. There too the accused created a ruckus and beat up.
After that, the victim came to know that the young man had exploited her only on the pretext of marriage. He was also denying that he was the father of the child. The youth accused the victim of having a child with another person.
In the cross-examination in the trial court the victim admitted that she had complained to the Child Welfare Committee. She also cited the photographs and told the officers that the young man was her husband. Based on that, the young man said that physical relations were consensual.
Image Credit: (Divya-Bhaskar): Images/graphics belong to (Divya-Bhaskar).
