No immunity from Pocso FIR despite marrying survivor, having child: HC

NAGPUR: Holding that a minor’s consent for a physical relationship is “irrelevant” under current law, Nagpur bench of Bombay HC has refused to quash a case filed under Pocso Act against a 29-year-old Washim man who married a 17-year-old and fathered her child. HC ruled Friday that the FIR cannot be dismissed merely because the girl married the accused and later became a mother.

Dismissing a plea by M A Beigh and two family members to set aside the case, a division bench of Justices Urmila Joshi-Phalke and Nandesh Deshpande said: “Despite knowing the girl was a minor, he commits an offence from the moment he takes her away from the legal custody of her parents. Merely because the girl has given birth to a child, the criminal act cannot be brushed aside.”

Beigh married the girl on June 2, 2024, when she was 17. She gave birth to a baby boy in May. Cops registered the case after learning of the childbirth and the mother’s age.

Now an adult, the survivor supported the accused in court, stating their relationship was consensual and the marriage was approved by both families. Her lawyer urged the court to treat it as an “exceptional case,” arguing prosecution would harm both mother and child.

HC, however, saidthe accused “ought to have waited till the girl attained 18 years of age,” adding that taking a minor from her parents’ lawful custody is an offence regardless of affection or marriage.

The judges noted SC is examining whether consensual adolescent relationships deserve different treatment under the Pocso Act, but said that until Parliament amends the law, courts must follow it. It also cited govt’s opposition to lowering age of consent, warning it would “reintroduce the very mischief the law was enacted to prevent”.