The Delhi High Court recently granted bail to a 21-year-old man facing charges of rape under the POCSO Act on the complaint filed by a 17-year-old girl.
The single-judge bench of Justice Subramonium Prasad stated: “Looking at the respective ages of the petitioner and the complainant both were romantically attracted towards each other and their relationship was consensual.” On the issue of the age of the applicant/accused, the judge said, “This Court cannot overlook the fact that the petitioner (young man) is now only 21 having a complete life ahead of him. This Court also cannot overrule their friendship as both of them were students of the same school.”
The complainant had alleged in the FIR that in June 2020, during the national Covid-19 lockdown, she had gone to her friend’s house to borrow books. On her way back, the accused stopped the complainant and caught hold of her and forcibly took her to the ground floor of his house and coerced her to drink a liquid laced with sedatives.
According to the FIR, when the complainant regained consciousness, she found that she was lying down and the bedsheet was wet and her body was in pain. When she confronted her friend, he told her that since she was not adhering to his request of friendship, he had committed rape.
The FIR was lodged in August 2020 after the discovery that the girl was pregnant, resulting in the petitioner getting arrested. Subsequently, the petitioner had her pregnancy medically terminated.