Teenage love fall in legal grey area, debatable if it can be categorized as offence: HC | India News

Justice Subramonium Prasad was hearing the bail plea of an accused who contended that it is a case of a love affair and he and the victim were in love with each other and the victim willingly went with him to Madhya Pradesh and they stayed together and they returned to Delhi after they came to know that the father of the victim has filed a case.

File photo of the Delhi High Court. (Photo credit: PTI)

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court, while granting bail recently to a young man facing rape and charges under the provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, has observed that teenage love and such offences fall in a legal grey area and it is debatable if that can be actually categorized as an offence.

High Court was hearing bail plea of an accused

Justice Subramonium Prasad was hearing the bail plea of an accused who contended that it is a case of a love affair and he and the victim were in love with each other and the victim willingly went with him to Madhya Pradesh and they stayed together and they returned to Delhi after they came to know that the father of the victim has filed a case.

The High Court cited orders of a coordinate bench of the Delhi High Court and Gujarat High Court dealing with the similar nature of cases. The High Court also cited a judgement of a coordinate bench of the Delhi High Court, which laid down the parameters that are to be followed when considering bail of a person accused under the POCSO Act.

Teenage love and such offences fall in a legal grey area and it is debatable if that can be actually categorized as an offence: HC

“Teenage love and such offences fall in a legal grey area and it is debatable if that can be actually categorized as an offence. This court at the moment is not commenting as to whether the offence has been committed by the petitioner (accused) or not. This court at the moment is only considering that the petitioner, who at the time of incident was about 20 years of age and, as of today, he is 22 years of age, should be further kept in custody or not,” the High Court said.

The High Court further said that “This court is coming across a number of cases where girls who are more than about 17 years of age elope with boys of their choice and when they are caught, the parents of the victim force the victim to change the statement of the victim before the police.”

The High Court also said that police also records such statements at a later stage which is completely contrary to the earlier statements and majority of the statements recorded under section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) also do not conform with the victim’s earlier statements given by the victim under section 161 of CrPC which is contradictory.

Accused has been in custody since April 19, 2022 and chargesheet has been filed, High Court noted

“The present case is a classic example where the victim in the first instance had come out with a story that she had gone to her friend’s house after informing her mother where she had called the petitioner for meeting and, thereafter, they went to Madhya Pradesh with the petitioner and after that Bihar and when they came to know that the father of the victim has filed a case, they came to Delhi. There is a material improvement in her second statement recorded under section 164 of CrPC which was recorded after 23 days after her first statement stating that though she went to Madhya Pradesh with the petitioner on her own accord but she was kept confined in Bihar and was forced to marry the petitioner,” the High Court noted.

The High Court noted that the petitioner has been in custody since April 19, 2022 and chargesheet has been filed.

High Court granted bail to accused with certain conditions

“Conditions can be imposed restraining the Petitioner from making contact to the victim. Keeping the petitioner further in custody will be detrimental to the future of the petitioner who is about 22 years of age. Considering the facts and circumstances of the case, this court is inclined to grant regular bail to the petitioner,” the High Court said while granting the accused regular bail with certain conditions.

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