कायदेशीर दहशदवाद

The court made these observations while acquitting a 22-year-old youth of charges of kidnapping and raping a 15-year-old girl whom he later married. The youth, a native of West Bengal, was acquitted of the charges as the court held that the minor, on her own will, accompanied him and obstacles should not be put in their happy married life. Rejecting the plea of the police and Delhi Commission for Women that POCSO Act prohibits minors from having any kind sexual relationship, additional sessions judge Dharmesh Sharma said, "I am afraid if that interpretation is allowed, it would mean that the human body of every individual under 18 years is the property of the state and no individual below 18 years can be allowed to have pleasures associated with one's body."

In a landmark judgement, the Bombay High Court on Wednesday approved of the marriage of a 17-year-old girl who married her lover out of her own free will. “If the couple is willing to stay with each other and the girl is eager to live with her husband, she cannot be forced to stay at a remand home or cannot be sent back to her parents,” the Division Bench comprising Justice Bilal Nazki and Justice A P Bhangale said, while handing over the custody of the girl to her husband.

Justice D G Karnik, who was hearing the case, told defence lawyer R S Kavle that Section 376 of the Indian Penal Code was very clear and categorically stated that sex with a minor is construed as rape. Advocate Kavle pleaded that Shah had legally married the minor under the Muslim Personal Law and even had a nikahnama. He added that the minor had gone on her own accord with Shah and that he did not force her to elope with him. “I accept all the statements forwarded by you. But how do I help you? Even if there is marriage but the girl is below 16, it amounts to rape,” Justice Karnik observed. To everybody’s surprise, Justice Karnik, however, granted bail on a bond of Rs 15,000.

The Bombay High Court on Monday decided to interview the 15-year-old Muslim girl whose marriage was stalled by the Ghatkopar police in December last year after it received a complaint saying the girl was a minor and her marriage was in violation of the Child Marriage Prohibition Act. The High Court has also issued notice to the Additional Solicitor General in order to decide the legality of the petition filed by the girl’s mother, Zakia Begum, in which she had contended that Muslims in India were entitled to marry on attaining puberty as per his or her choice, and that freedom was integral part of their fundamental rights. The judges observed that this was an important issue that challenged certain provisions of the Constitution, and the Union of India should be made a party in this matter.