Consensual sex with girl on verge of turning 18 not offence: HC

CHENNAI: A man’s consensual sex with a girl, who was just 19 days short of turning 18 years old, cannot be an offence under the Pocso Act, ruled Madras high court, acquitting the man of all charges.

He had been sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for five years by a trial court in Coimbatore.Reversing the trial court ruling, Justice GK Ilanthiraiyan said the girl was capable of understanding the consequences of her actions and that her age at the time of the incident could not be proved beyond doubt. "There is nothing in the evidence to show that the appellant took away or enticed the victim to flee with him.

Therefore, the charge under section 363 of IPC is not made out against the appellant. Further, the family members of the victim were aware that the victim was having a love affair with the appellant,” said the judge.The criminal appeal was filed against the order pronounced by the Pocso court in Coimbatore, where the man, who was her boyfriend, was convicted on charges of having sex with her at her house and later at his grandparents' house.

Citing a Bombay high court order acquitting a man in a similar case, Justice Ilanthiraiyan noted that nowhere in the trial did the victim testify that the sexual intercourse was forcible and without her consent, thus allowing the appeal.

The incident occurred in 2020 when the girl, a second-year college student, invited her boyfriend home while her parents were away. They had sex and later eloped to his grandparents' house because the girl's parents had planned to marry her to a 40-year-old relative who was already married. He was convicted by the Pocso Court in Coimbatore and sentenced to five years of rigorous imprisonment.Acquitting the appellant, the high court stated that the bail bond, if any, executed by the appellant shall stand cancelled, and the fine amount, if any, collected should be reimbursed.