‘Consent to sex by girl below 16 yrs invalid’

The Delhi High Court on Monday upheld a seven-year jail term given to a youth in 2001 by a trial court for kidnap and rape. By doing so, it upheld that consent of a girl aged below 16 was not valid as per the existing law.

The Delhi High Court on Monday upheld a seven-year jail term given to a youth in 2001 by a trial court for kidnap and rape. By doing so, it upheld that consent of a girl aged below 16 was not valid as per the existing law.

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The victim was 15-and-a-half years old. Seeking acquittal, convict Ajay Kumar argued that the girl had voluntarily accompanied him and the sex was consensual.

But rejecting his appeal, Justice Mukta Gupta said: “Even if the prosecutrix was consenting party, she was aged below 16 years and therefore the consent was immaterial being not valid.”

The court rejected Kumar’s lawyer Anup J Bhambani’s argument that while the charge against the accused was that he had enticed the victim to Kanpur and raped her, the girl’s maternal aunt had accompanied her to the station.