New Delhi:The Delhi High Court has upheld the trial court's order acquitting a Muslim man in a case of raping his 15-year-old wife on the ground that his relationship with her cannot be termed as rape.
A bench of Justice Suresh Kumar Kait and Justice Neena Bansal Krishna stated that the trial court has rightly observed that as per the girl's testimony she got married to the responded in December 2014 and only after which, they had physical relationship. The court mentioned, "no offence under Section 6 read with Section 5(1) of POCSO Act was made out and the respondent is rightly acquitted". The application was thus dismissed by the bench.
The case relates to the State's appeal to the high court against a judgement passed by the trial court on November, 15, 2016 that acquitted the man of charges under 376 of the IPC.
The matter surfaced after the girl's mother filed an FIR complaining that she was sexually assaulted by her sister's husband four to five times from October to November 2014. Medical examinations were conducted that confirmed that the girl was pregnant.
During the hearing, the girl informed the trial court that she along with her mother, her sister and the accused visited her ancestral house in December 2014 to attend her cousin's wedding. There, she got married to the accused keeping her parents in the dark. After returning home, she revealed that she had got into sexual relationship with the accused several times.
The court stated that the girl is also a Muslim and the respondent's wife and their relationship followed after their marriage. It mentioned that their relationship does not meet the rape criteria.
According to the Muslim personal law, a Muslim girl aged 15 or more can get into a marriage contract of her choice and physical relationship that follows is not considered to be a criminal offence.
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Notably, the case permitting Muslim girls below 18 years to legally marry is pending before the Supreme Court. Earlier, the Punjab and Haryana High Court mentioned that as per the Muslim personal law, a Muslim girl aged 15 or above can enter a marriage contract of her choice.
