Delhi HC upholds man's acquittal in case of raping minor wife
New Delhi, Aug 22: The Delhi High Court has refused to entertain the State's appeal against a man's acquittal in a case of raping his 15-year-old wife, saying his physical relationship with her cannot be termed as rape.
The high court upheld a trial court's judgement which had declared the Muslim man not guilty of raping his second wife, saying he has been rightly acquitted.
"The additional sessions judge had rightly observed that in view of the testimony of the child that she got married to the respondent (man) in the month of December, 2014 and only thereafter did they have physical relationship, no offence under Section 6 read with Section 5(1) of POCSO Act was made out and the respondent was rightly acquitted," a bench of Justices Suresh Kumar Kait and Neena Bansal Krishna said.
The high court said there was no ground for grant of leave to appeal against the trial court's verdict and dismissed an application filed by the police.
"We find that since the child victim was the wife who was almost fifteen years of age, the physical relationship of the respondent with the victim, cannot be termed as rape. The respondent has been rightly acquitted," the bench said.
Under the exception given in Section 375 (rape) of the IPC, sexual intercourse or sexual acts by a man with his wife, the wife not being under 15 years, is not rape.
According to the prosecution, a rape case was lodged against the man in 2015 on the complaint of the girl's mother after finding out that her minor daughter was pregnant.
The girl, in her testimony before the trial court, submitted that the man who was her brother-in-law had married her in December 2014 after which he established physical relations with her with her consent and she became pregnant.
She said the fact that she had got married to the man was not known to her mother, who lodged a complaint with the police on discovering that she was pregnant.
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Compromised PM didn't sign trade deal with US, but a bargain for Adani's release: Rahul
New Delhi (PTI): Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of signing a trade deal with the US only to secure the "release" of billionaire businessman Gautam Adani.
"Compromised PM did not strike a trade deal, but a bargain for Adani's release," Gandhi said in a post in Hindi on X, after reports that the US has agreed to settle the lawsuit that accused Adani of hiding alleged bribery.
The US government has agreed to settle the lawsuit filed against Adani, who is accused of duping investors by concealing that his company's huge solar energy project in India was being facilitated by an alleged bribery scheme, according to court filings published Thursday.
Reacting to the reports, Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said it was now clear why the PM agreed to the "hopelessly one-sided Indo-US trade deal that was really a steal by the US".
"And it is also clear why he abruptly halted Operation Sindoor on May 10, 2025, acting on President Trump's threats rather than on our national interest. Reportedly, the Trump Administration is about to drop all charges of corruption against Modani," he said on X.
"How much more compromised can the PM get?" Ramesh asked.
In the lawsuit filed in late 2024, the Securities and Exchange Commission accused Adani Group Chairman Gautam Adani and his nephew Sagar Adani, who is a director at the group's renewable energy unit Adani Green Energy Ltd, of agreeing to pay about USD 265 million in bribes to Indian government officials between approximately 2020 and 2024 to obtain lucrative solar energy supply contracts on terms that expected to yield USD 2 billion of profit over 20 years.
It was alleged in the lawsuit that Adani Group raised USD 2 billion in loans and bonds, including from US firms, on the backs of false and misleading statements related to the firm's anti-bribery practices and policies.
The ports-to-energy conglomerate had denied the allegations.
