Bombay HC Suspends Sentence Of Teen Convicted Of Raping Cousin, Says Minor's Consent For Sex A 'Grey Area'

The High Court made the order after observing that the victim has retracted from her FIR statement and because the forensic lab report that could prove sexual assault was not available till the trial’s conclusion.

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Mumbai: Observing that a minor's consent is a "legal grey area", the Bombay High Court suspended the 10 years’ rigorous imprisonment awarded to a 19-year-old boy convicted on charges of raping his minor cousin.

The High Court made the order after observing that the victim has retracted from her FIR statement and because the forensic lab report that could prove sexual assault was not available till the trial’s conclusion.

“I am also conscious of the fact that consensual sex between minors has been in a legal grey area because the consent given by minor is not considered to be a valid consent in eyes of law,” said Justice Sandeep K. Shinde of the Bombay High Court. 

“In the case at hand, facts are distinctive. The accused and victim live under the same roof. They are students. A fact cannot be overlooked that the victim had resiled from her statement. Even her mother was unfriendly to prosecution,” the bench added.

According to reports, the girl, a student of Class 8, was living in the house of her paternal uncle for two years. In September, 2017, the 15-year-old told her friend that her first cousin brother had touched her inappropriately and since then she had been having stomach pain.

Noticing that the girl was depressed, the friend and informed her class teacher who later informed the principal. 

An FIR was registered against the boy by the teacher on March 3, 2018. 

The victim had told the court that she was sexually assaulted in September and October 2017 and again in February the next year. The medical officer, who examined the victim on the date of FIR registration, however, did not notice any external injury on her.

The victim, who recorded her statement later before a magistrate under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, also stated that it was a consensual act.