Allahabad, Nov 22: The Allahabad High Court has granted a 4-month interim bail to a Hindu man accused under the POCSO Act to marry the victim who is reportdly a Muslim girl.
The Court passed this order after considering the prosecutrix's statement, in which she asserted that she is an adult, has married the accused in a temple, and is willing to live with him.
Our marriage will be soon legalised, said the victim in her statement to the court, while the bail pleas were being heard before the court.
“Having heard the learned counsel for the parties and having perused the material available on record and also hearing the parties who are present in person, it appears that so as to protect the life of the prosecutrix for future, the applicant may marry with the prosecutrix under Special Marriages Act, for that he may be granted interim bail for the period of four months,” a bench of Rajesh Singh Chauhan observed in its order passed on November 14.
Worth mentioning, the accused was arrested in July this year in connection with a complaint lodged by the victim's father under Section 363, 366, 376 IPC and Section 3/4 POCSO Act.
Seeking bail in the case, the accused moved the HC, wherein his counsel submitted that the alleged victim and the accused had performed marriage of their own free will. However, her parents, opposing their marriage, are not permitting her to live with him, and they so had filed the complaint.
Based on it the Allahabad High Court summoned the victim by person to depose before him.Accordingly on November 14, the victim appeared before the Court and expressed her willingness to reside with the accused.
She also submitted before the court that since she married the accused applicant, her father and other family members have not accepted that marriage, so she lives in Raj Balika Grih in Lucknow.
The complainant/informant (the girl's father) submitted that if his daughter claimed that she had already married the accused and that she was willing to live with him, he had nothing to say as he had broken all his relations with her.
On the other hand, the AGA argued that since the accused is a Hindu by religion and the prosecutrix is Muslim by religion, their valid marriage can be done under the Special Marriages Act since there is no provision for conversion in the Hindu religion.
Against this backdrop, the Court, so as to protect the life of the prosecutrix for future, granted a 4-month interim conditional bail (till April 2, 2025) to the accused.
