HC grants bail to POCSO accused after 16-year-old survivor says she was his wife

Mumbai The Bombay high court granted bail to a 28-year-old man booked under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POSCO) Act, after the 16-year-old rape survivor gave a statement that she was his wife

Mumbai The Bombay high court granted bail to a 28-year-old man booked under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POSCO) Act, after the 16-year-old rape survivor gave a statement that she was his wife.

Mumbai, India - September 03, 2021: Bombay High Court at Fort, in Mumbai, India, on Friday, September 03, 2021. (Photo by Anshuman Poyrekar/Hindustan Times) (Anshuman Poyrekar/HT PHOTO)

Taking note of victim’s statement, the court observed that the survivor was together with the accused on her own free will.

The offence against the man was registered by the Vimantal police station in Pune in August 2020 and the man was arrested in June 2021.

The HC held that the survivor was of the age of understanding and willingly accompanied the accused and had physical relations for almost two months till she was traced by the police and her custody was given to her mother, who had lodged a missing complaint against an unknown person.

The single judge bench of justice P D Naik, while hearing the bail application was informed by advocate Ganesh Gupta that his client had a consensual relationship with the minor and that she was not forced to have physical relation. Gupta informed the bench that the statement of the survivor recorded after she was united with her mother also indicated that she had accepted herself as the wife of the accused and hence was aware of what she was getting into.

On June 18, 2020, the minor stepped out of her house informing her mother that she was going out for work and did not return. After efforts by her mother to search for her failed, she lodged a complaint of kidnapping with the Vimantal police station against an unknown person.

The police traced the survivor to Saswad and rescued her and united her with her mother on August 26.

In her statement recorded under section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the survivor stated that after she left home on June 18, the accused took her on his motorcycle. They then stayed at a place after which they moved to another place from where she was rescued by the police two months later. During her stay with the accused, she was wearing a mangalsutra and lived as wife of the accused, hence had physical relations on various occasions.

Based on her statement, the police booked the man under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and relevant sections of the POCSO Act after the mother informed them that her daughter was only 16 years old. The police then searched for accused who was on the run and had even escaped to Nepal. He was arrested a year later while his anticipatory bail plea was pending.

During the hearing, the mother, through her advocate Shanice Mansukhani informed the bench that her daughter was a minor and though the accused was married and had children, he had lured her daughter and had sexual relations with her as well. Additional public prosecutor N B Patil also stressed on the fact that the survivor was a minor.

However, HC granted bail to the man observing that though the girl was minor at the time, her statement indicated that she left with him on her own and moved around places with him and the two stayed together as husband and wife. The court, however, restrained the man from contacting the survivor.