Delhi High Court Slams Accused For Exploiting Minor Girl
The Delhi High Court ruled that merely being friendly with a boy doesn’t imply consent for sex, especially when the survivor is a minor, while rejecting the accused’s bail plea.
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NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court has ruled that a man cannot presume sexual entitlement simply because a girl befriends him. This landmark statement came as the court denied bail to an accused in a case involving the repeated rape of a minor.
Background of the Case
The accused, a construction labourer in the Nndmc flats of Vikaspuriallegedly raped a minor girl multiple times between April and November 2023. The First Information Report (FIR) and the victim’s statement assert that these acts were committed against her willand the accused had threatened her to remain silent.
In his defence, the man claimed the girl was a major and that the relationship was consensual. However, the court dismissed this argument, referring to school records that confirmed the survivor was a minor during the period of the alleged assaults.
High Court’s Ruling
Justice Girish Kathpaliain his July 24 order, emphasized that:
“Merely because a girl befriends a boy, the latter cannot be given liberty to indulge into sexual intercourse with her without her consent. Further, even the consent would not be lawful in the present case because the prosecutrix was minor in age.”
The judge further ruled that the nature of the accusations ruled out any consensual relationshipespecially as the FIR described that the accused used “sweet talk” to befriend the girl before allegedly raping her multiple times. The Court said,
I am unable to find it a case of consensual relations merely because in the FIR the prosecutrix stated that the accused/applicant with his sweet talk befriended her.”
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The Court underlined that detailed scrutiny of evidence is not permitted at the bail stage. The judge also rejected the accused’s reliance on a selective statement from the girl’s motherstating it could not be viewed in isolation.
Consequently, the Court found “no merit” in the bail plea and denied the accused any reliefholding that the gravity and nature of the allegations made it an unfit case for bail.
The judgment reinforces the legal safeguards provided under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) and Section 375 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC)making it clear that sexual intercourse with a minor constitutes rape, irrespective of consent, since minors are legally incapable of giving valid consent. POCSO further criminalises all forms of sexual contact with children and mandates stricter scrutiny in granting bail to the accused.
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