NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court has refused to quash proceedings against a man accused of sexual offences in a case filed by his wife, noting that she was a minor at the time. The court said it “cannot give judicial endorsement to underage marriages”.
Under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, under which the case was lodged, an offender is liable for punishment for engaging in a sexual relationship with a girl below 18 years of age, irrespective of consent.
Justice Sanjeev Narula observed that an offence under the POCSO Act is complete once sexual intercourse with a child below 18 is proved.
“Since the Parliament has fixed 18 as the age below which the law refuses to recognise sexual consent, this court, exercising jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution, cannot, in the guise of doing equity, write in a judge-made exception for ‘near majority, consensual relationships.’ To do so would be to cross the line from interpretation into legislation,” the court said.
The court was hearing a plea filed by the man seeking to quash a case registered under Section 376 of the Indian Penal Code (rape), Section 6 of the POCSO Act (aggravated penetrative sexual assault), and Sections 9 (punishment for male adult marrying a child) and 10 (punishment for solemnising a child marriage) of the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006.
The FIR was registered after the wife filed a domestic violence complaint. It was found that she was a minor and pregnant at the time of the incident. The wife, who later gave birth to their child, subsequently retracted her allegations, stating that they are now living as a family.