Tanvi Sinha
Bombay High Court only days after being flagged for their comment about groping a minor, has now stated that consensual sex between teenagers is a grey area for legal cases, even as one of the teenagers happens to be an adult.
A single judge bench of Justice Sandeep K. Shinde was examining the bail application of the accused in the case and had after considering the facts of the case said that this issue was a legal grey area.
Th Judge in his opinion stated that it could not be overlooked that the victim had resiled from her statement and that she and her mother were both hostile to the prosecution.
The victim in this case was noted saying that her statement to the police was under the insistence of the Class teacher, hence the judge forewent the clause regarding Section 29 and 30, to be considered when the appeal is to be heard finally.
The judge then released the appellant on bail following him executing a bond of 25,000 INR.
The facts of the case were as such, the appellant who was first cousins with the victim of the case, had had sex with his cousin repeatedly from the time she was in 8th standard, September of 2017.
The victim was 15 at the time and was staying with here paternal uncle and evidence then led to the belief that she had been raped by her first cousin brother after the victim’s peers and teachers informed her of sexual harassment and that it could very possibly be something that had happened to her as well.
The appellant had following the FIR, been sentenced to 10 years of rigorous punishment.