The Allahabad High Court has set aside a life sentence in a kidnapping and sexual assault case after finding that the woman involved was an adult in a consensual live-in relationship, while remarking that the growing preference for such arrangements among youth is influenced by “western ideas”
A division bench of Justice Siddharth and Justice Prashant Mishra allowed a criminal appeal filed by Chandresh, observing that when live-in relationships fail, first information reports alleging rape are frequently lodged.
The court said that since existing laws are largely in favour of women, men are often convicted under statutes framed at a time when the concept of live-in relationships “was nowhere in existence”.
According to the prosecution, Chandresh had enticed away the informant’s minor daughter on the pretext of marriage, taken her to Bengaluru and established a physical relationship with her. A trial court had convicted him under sections 363 (kidnapping), 366 (abduction for marriage) and 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) of the IPC, Section 6 of the POCSO Act and Section 3(2)(V) of the SC/ST Act, sentencing him to life imprisonment.
However, on reviewing the records, the High Court found that the woman was a major at the time of the incident. The bench noted that the trial court had failed to properly consider the ossification test report, which placed her age at around 20 years.
The judges also flagged inconsistencies in the mother’s testimony. While the FIR mentioned the girl’s age as 18-and-a-half years, she later claimed in court that her daughter was 17, a shift the bench suggested was made on “legal advice”.
The court pointed out that the victim travelled with the appellant via public transport, including a government bus and a train, to Gorakhpur and then to Bangalore without raising an alarm. "She lived with the appellant in a locality full of other houses in Bangalore for six months and had a consenting physical relationship with him," the court observed, noting she only contacted her family after the appellant dropped her back at Shikarpur Crossing on August 6, 2021.
The HC held that the conviction for kidnapping and abduction was "absolutely unwarranted" as the victim was an adult who eloped of her own free will.
Regarding the rape charges and POCSO Act convictions, the court said the victim was major in a consensual relation, the trial court's judgment is unjustified.
The conviction under section-376 of I.P.C., is also not proper because the victim was major and had consenting relationship with appellant for six years. In its judgment on January 8, the High Court concluded that the trial court had not properly considered the evidence on record. The court therefore set aside the conviction and allowed the appeal.