A boy thrown behind bars on rape charges after his minor girlfriend became pregnant, got relief from Delhi high court on Friday. The HC noted it ‘‘seems to be a case of a love affair and not rape’’.
Justice S N Dhingra asked the accused to seek bail afresh from the trial court and reiterated his directions to the police that the pregnant teen should be protected from her angry family. Interestingly, the woman while appearing before HC, claimed that though she loved the boy, she wasn’t ready to marry him yet.
HC was hearing a case in which the couple sought protection alleging their family members were threatening to kill them for eloping. A day earlier, the Delhi Legal Aid Authority had expressed the fear that the girl is facing threat from her parents and might be killed. HC had then teared into the Delhi Police for failing to protect couples from angry family and conniving with them to harass couples.
On Friday, HC asked the police to ensure nothing untoward happens to the girl, who now wants to go to her real mother in Siddharthnagar, UP. The girl is currently staying with her step mother.
‘‘As long as she stays at the present address, the IO shall visit the house of the girl once a day and ensure her safety. If she desires, police shall provide her escort up to her mother’s village where she intends to go,’’ the court said. The girl and her boyfriend were produced before the court after the parents of the girl had lodged a case alleging the boy of raping the girl in Uttam Nagar police station on March 21. The boy is under judicial custody.
‘‘It seems more like a case of love affair, instead of a case of rape. The boy had been living just opposite the house of the girl. He had come from Rajasthan about three months ago, and the girl had also come to Delhi only recently,’’ the court noted.
Source:- The Times of India 19 June 2010 Page 4 Delhi
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