Bengaluru (Karnataka):The Karnataka High Court has granted bail to a rape accused booked under the POCSO Act, on the condition that he will marry the minor victim when she reaches adulthood. The court also ordered the accused to get the marriage registered and submit that certificate to the court.
A bench of the High Court headed by Justice Rajendra Badamikar while granting conditional bail to the accused said "the 22-year-old petitioner shall marry the victim after she becomes the major. The marriage shall be registered and the registration document should be produced before the trial court." The accused was arrested based on a complaint lodged by the victim's parents at the women's police station in Ramnagara.
The victim in her statement mentioned that she was in a relationship with the accused and has voluntarily entered into a physical relationship with the hope that they would marry each other when she became the major, but since she is a minor, her consent regarding the physical relationship becomes irrelevant--the bench recorded in the order--the prosecution counsel argued that the condition should be imposed that the accused should marry the victim.
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The accused and the victim were relatives and fell in love. Meanwhile, when no one was at home, the accused took the victim to his house and had physical contact with her. A few days after the incident, the girl complained of abdominal pain. After she went through some tests, she found out that she was pregnant. The victim's parents immediately filed a complaint at the women's police station in Ramnagara. Later, the accused was arrested and sent to judicial custody. The trial court rejected the bail application of the accused and the accused then approached the High Court questioning the trial court order.
