Supreme Court cancels the sentence of rape accused after 23 years : The court said that the medical report shows that the victim was 16 years old at the time of the incident. At that time this age limit was fixed for consent.
Supreme Court cancels the sentence of rape accused after 23 years : The Supreme Court on Monday canceled the conviction of the accused in a 23-year-old rape case. The Supreme Court said that the victim was an adult at the time of the incident and the relationship between the two was consensual. Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Justice C.T. The bench of Ravi Kumar and Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia, while hearing the case, said that the prosecution failed to prove that the girl was less than 16 years of age at the time of the incident.
The Supreme Court said that as far as rape is concerned, we did not find any evidence to prove that physical relations took place between the petitioner and the accused, whether it was consensual or non-consensual. The Supreme Court said that the lower court did not investigate the age of the victim properly. The age could be known from the school register and transfer certificate, but this was not placed before the court.
The court said- mother’s side is also the same
The court said that even in the medical report, the age of the victim has been stated as 16 years. Her mother’s version is also the same and she herself has described the girl as 16 years old. The court said that had the victim been less than 16 years of age, the point of consent could have been ignored and a case of rape would have been made out, but the medical report showed that the girl was more than 16 years of age at the time of the incident. Let us tell you that in the year 2012, the age of consent was increased from 16 to 18 years.
The Supreme Court also made sharp remarks during the hearing. Said, ‘False allegation of rape can cause insult and harm to someone…’
What is the whole incident?
The entire incident is of the year 2000. According to a report in ‘Bar & Bench’, the incident took place at the in-laws house of the victim’s sister. At first the family members tried to get the victim and the accused married. Later the family members of the accused rejected the proposal saying that the girl was only 16 years old. After this a criminal case was registered against the accused.
The trial court found the accused guilty of rape and sentenced him to 7 years of rigorous imprisonment. Later, Punjab and Haryana High Court also upheld the sentence. After this the accused approached the Supreme Court.
