‘Can’t Check Aadhaar Card Before Sex’: High Court On Minor’s Rape Charge

When giving bail to a man accused of “raping” his claimed minor partner who has “three different dates of birth,” the Delhi High Court stated that a person in a consensual physical relationship is not compelled to judicially scrutinise his partner’s date of birth.
The court granted relief to the accused who claimed that the prosecutrix was giving her dates of birth according to her own convenience only to use the provisions of the child abuse law against him. The court said a person is not required to see the Aadhaar card or the PAN card or verify his partner’s date of birth from her school records before getting into a consensual physical relationship with her.

“The person, who is in a consensual physical relationship with another person, is not required to judicially scrutinise the date of birth of the other person. He is not required to see the Aadhaar card, the PAN card and verify the date of birth from her school records before he enters into a physical relationship.

“The very fact that there is an Aadhaar card and that the same shows the date of birth as 01.01.1998 is sufficient for the applicant to form an opinion that he was not indulging in a physical relationship with a minor,” Justice Jasmeet Singh said in the order dated August 24.

“As regards the date of birth, it seems the prosecutrix has three different dates of birth. The Aadhaar card shows her date of birth as 01.01.1998 and hence, on the date of the alleged incident, the prosecutrix was supposed to be a major,” the judge added.

The court stated that, at first glance, it appears to be a case of honey-trapping and that no convincing explanation was provided for the “inordinate delay” in the registration of a FIR in April for the alleged incidents that occurred in 2019 and 2021. The court took note of the transfers of “huge amounts of money” in favour of the prosecutrix.

The prosecutrix filed identical FIRs against other people, and the court ordered the police commissioner to ensure a thorough inquiry into those FIRs and her Aadhaar card information.

The court directed that the accused be released on a personal bond with one local surety of ₹ 20,000, and he should periodically report to the police station and appear before the court whenever the case is taken up for hearing.

Picture Courtesy: Google/images are subject to copyright