The Delhi High Court has set free two men, charged with raping a 16-year-old girl leading to her delivering a child, saying she was a consenting party.
A Bench said, “Since the victim was more than 16 years of age at the time of commission of the offence and physical relations [if any] were with her consent, the appellants cannot be held guilty for commission of offence punishable under Section 376 IPC [rape]”. It also noted that the provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act cannot be incorporated in the present proceedings as the offence was committed before it came into force in November, 2012.
The High Court, however, said two men knew the consequences of their acts whereby “the poor girl became pregnant and delivered a child”, she was entitled for compensation for the maintenance of the ‘child’.
Directed to pay
The two men were directed to pay ₹5 lakh and ₹8 lakh respectively in the name of the infant.
On January 28, 2012, an FIR was lodged by the victim in which she alleged that the two men had raped her.
She told the police that she used to work in her father’s tea stall after school in Bawana Industrial Area.
About four to five months back, when she had gone to the office of the two men to serve tea, they raped her one by one, the victim said.
Also, stated that whenever her father was away, they used to rape her.
After this, the victim fell ill and it was found that she was pregnant. Then, she lodged a complaint. The Bench, however, questioned why she did not do this before.
“Victim’s conduct is also unreasonable and unacceptable…There was no plausible reason to suppress the pregnancy for so long. The delay in reporting the incident... has remained unexplained,” the court said. She has also given conflicting and divergent versions at different stages of investigation, Bench noted. “She continued to visit the office of the appellants as and when called without any hitch,” the Bench said, adding, “From the circumstances , it can safely be inferred that the prosecutrix was a consenting party throughout”.
