Having consensual sex with a major is not an offence and is ‘unethical, immoral and against established Indian norms’, the Allahabad high court said on Friday, while rejecting the bail plea of a gang rape suspect.
While dismissing the bail application of one of the four defendants in the case, Justice Rahul Chaturvedi stated that it was the responsibility of the man claiming to be the boyfriend of a juvenile girl to protect his girlfriend when she was being sexually harassed by the other co-accused.
‘The moment the applicant submits that the victim is his beloved, it was his binding duty to protect the dignity, honour and reputation of his girlfriend. If a girl is major one, then to have sex with her consent is not an offence, but certainly, it is unethical and immoral and also not in consonance with the established social norms of the Indian society,’ observed the court.
The applicant’s behaviour was described as very reprehensible and unworthy of a lover by the court, who stated that ‘he remained silent spectator when the co-accused persons were sexually assaulting his beloved in front of him.’
According to the FIR, the victim went to a stitching centre on February 19 this year to take stitching lessons and had spoken to her lover Raju over the phone and intended to see him. They later met in a secret location near a nearby river. After a while, three more people arrived, abused and battered the girl, and then did the crime.
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The 15-year-old victim filed an FIR at Akil Sarai police station in Kaushambi district on February 20 against four accused under sections 376-D, 392, 323, 504, and 506 of the IPC and Sections 5 and 6 of the POCSO Act.
The court refused bail to the accused after reviewing the evidence and the contents of the FIR, finding that it was impossible to say with confidence that the applicant had no link or connection with the remaining co-accused people.
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