The Karnataka High Court has quashed criminal proceedings against a 23-year-old man facing charges under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and rape charges under the Indian Penal Code.
High Court of Karnataka has decided that continuing criminal proceedings against a 20-year-old youth for the rape of a 17-year-old is meaningless, as the girl, who fell in love with him, voluntarily married him after she reached 18, gave birth to a child a year after the marriage, while the case was pending in sessions court.
Under the circumstances, the prosecution can “hardly prove the guilt against the petitioner,” according to the high court.
“If the victim is going to turn hostile in a trial at a later point in time and the petitioner gets acquitted of all the offences, the sword of crime would have torn the soul of the accused. It is not the end result that is painful or otherwise, but the process in the criminal justice system that generates such pain,” the court observed while terminating the criminal proceedings.
“In the teeth of these facts, glaring enough they are, if the court would shut its doors to the couple who are married and bringing up the child, the entire proceedings would result in miscarriage of justice,” said the High Court.
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