‘Adolescent love’ can't be controlled, courts must be careful while ruling: Delhi HC

The court’s observation on May 8 came while hearing the bail plea of a 19-year-old man, who had eloped with a 16-year-old girl in April 2021

“Adolescent love” cannot be controlled by courts, and judges should be careful while hearing bail applications in such cases, depending on facts and circumstances of each case, the Delhi high court has said.

Observing that teenagers who “try to imitate romantic culture of films and novels” remain unaware about the laws and age of consent, justice Swarna Kanta Sharma said that the attitude towards early love relationships, especially adolescent love, has to be scrutinised in the backdrop of their real life situations to understand their actions in a given situation. (HT Archive)

The court’s observation on May 8 came while hearing the bail plea of a 19-year-old man, who had eloped with a 16-year-old girl in April 2021. Since the girl was a minor, a rape case was slapped against the man.

Observing that teenagers who “try to imitate romantic culture of films and novels” remain unaware about the laws and age of consent, justice Swarna Kanta Sharma said that the attitude towards early love relationships, especially adolescent love, has to be scrutinised in the backdrop of their real life situations to understand their actions in a given situation.

“The prosecutrix and the accused herein might have made a mistake in the affairs of the heart, however, the teenage psychology and adolescent love cannot be controlled by the courts and therefore the judges have to be careful while rejecting or granting bail in such cases depending on the facts and circumstances of each case. This Court also observes that the attitude towards early love relationships, especially adolescent love, has to be scrutinised in the backdrop of their real life situations to understand their actions in a given situation.

Noting that the marriage of the girl and the boy is tentatively fixed for this month’s end, justice Sharma granted bail to the boy for two months.

During the investigation, the police found that the girl was found seven weeks pregnant, and a medical termination of her pregnancy was conducted. A DNA report confirmed that the boy was the biological father of the child.

However, the court noted that the girl has consistently stated in her statement under CrPC sections 161 and 164, and in the testimony recorded in court, that she had gone with the man out of her own free will as she developed a liking for him.

The court said, “Though the entire story reads like story of a romantic novel or a film about teenage love, in real life, this court notes that it had two main characters in their teens who loved each other, supported each other and somehow wanted their relationship in marriage to be validated, and for that the only idea that came to the mind of the prosecutrix was giving birth to a child from their union.”

The court observed that the criminal intent of any kind was completely missing as neither the girl nor the boy had switched off their mobile phones so that their location may not be available to the police or family.