The Bombay High Court has granted bail to a man accused of raping a 15-year-old girl, citing her “voluntary” association with him and the prolonged delay in the trial process. The man, who had been detained since May 2021, was released on bail on April 15 after nearly four years in jail.

Justice Milind N Jadhav, a single-judge bench of the High Court, passed the bail order on April 9, observing that the girl, despite being a minor, had “sufficient knowledge and capacity to know full import of what she was doing.” The court said that the accused had already gone through significant pre-trial detention, and there is no possibility of the trial commencing or concluding in the near future.

Advocate Mateen Qureshi, representing the accused, argued that the girl had left her house voluntarily and continued to stay with the accused without any signs of coercion. He further pointed out that the accused had already served three years and eleven months in jail without any progress in the trial, which amounted to a violation of his fundamental rights.

The court agreed, noting that the girl’s actions indicated a “voluntary” relationship and a level of maturity.

The Case

According to The Indian Express, the case dates back to August 2020 when the father of the victim filed a police complaint, stating that his 15-year-old daughter had left home and was allegedly living with the accused in another state. 

In May 2021, the girl, who was then 15 years and 3 months old, informed her father of her pregnancy and the accused’s refusal to marry her. She was subsequently brought back to Maharashtra.

The accused was booked under Sections 363 (kidnapping), 376 (rape), and other relevant provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), along with the stringent Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

In her statement, the victim claimed she had known the accused since 2019 and had been in regular contact with him despite parental opposition. She alleged that the accused had forceful sexual relations with her in March 2020. During their stay in another state in July 2020, the two continued their physical relationship, which resulted in her pregnancy.

 

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