Delhi HC denies bail to man in rape case, says consent of minor 'no consent'
New Delhi (PTI): Consent of a minor is not consent in the eyes of law, Delhi High Court has observed while denying bail to a man accused of raping a 16-year-old girl and also getting her date of birth changed on her Aadhaar card.
The high court also said that the conduct of the man in getting the girl's date of birth changed on the Aadhaar card was a "serious offence".
"It seems that the applicant (man) wanted to take advantage by getting the date of birth on the Aadhaar card changed so that when the applicant established physical relationship with the complainant, she was not a minor.
"The consent of the minor at the age of 16 years, specially, when the applicant was 23 years old and already married also disentitles him for grant of bail. Consent of a minor is no consent in the eyes of law," Justice Jasmeet Singh said in a recent order.
An FIR was lodged in 2019 on the complaint of the girl's father that his daughter was missing. Later, the girl was traced and rescued from Uttar Pradesh's Sambhal district and brought back.
The girl, who was found in the company of the man, said in her statement before a magistrate that he was her boyfriend and she stayed with him for about one and a half months.
She further said the man established physical relationships with her consent and that she wanted to stay with him.
The man sought bail on grounds that he had been in custody since 2019 and the chargesheet filed.
The judge said, "In the present case, I am of the view that the girl was merely 16 years on the date of incident. The applicant was 23 years old and was already married. It is stated by... counsel appearing for the complainant (girl) that she has interacted with the complainant and the complainant has informed her that it was the applicant who took her to the office of SDM (subdivisional magistrate) and got her date of birth changed in the Aadhaar card from the year 2002 to March 5, 2000 only for the purpose of showing that the date of the establishing physical relationship she was not a minor."
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
