Shashwati Chowdhury
Published on: July 23, 2022 at 19:24 IST
According to the Allahabad High Court expressed its displeasure, said young people 15 or 16 years old aged should not enter into a physical relationship and be married
When hearing a person’s application for bail charged for sexual assault under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses Act, Justice Rajesh Singh Chauhan made the observation (POCSO Act).
The Court was notified that the accused and the survivor’s physical relationship was consensual, that they got married, and that they also had a son.
The Court stressed that when there is a certain age prescribed for marriage by the statute, prior to such age any act committed could not be approved.
The girl’s father filed the complaint, but the prosecution’s version of events was not supported by the girl.
She said in her statement that she had was willing to live with the applicant, that they had married secretly, and that she had subsequently given birth to a son. She made it clear that she didn’t want to go back to her parents.
The State’s counsel opposed the application, arguing that because the girl was a minor at the time of the incident—roughly 15 years old—her consent was legally meaningless.
However, taking into account the peculiar circumstances of the case, the court granted the bail application because the applicant’s minor wife and son might not be properly cared for if he were not released from jail.
The Court made it quite clear that the application was only being granted based on the specific facts of the case, and as a result, the order cannot be used as precedent anywhere.