Gujarat HC quashes man's 10-year jail term for raping minor wife

AHMEDABAD: The Gujarat high court on Wednesday quashed the 10-year sentence awarded to a man for raping a woman he eloped with and later married, saying the punishment would make their child illegitimate.
The court said such a punishment represented not the upholding of law but "miscarriage of justice". The man, from Banaskantha, was prosecuted under Pocso Act for allegedly raping his minor wife. The HC said the man and his wife accept their child as their own, so jailing him makes the child illegitimate.
The wife and the child are living with the man's family while he is in jail. The couple had eloped in 2015 and the man was subsequently slapped with charges of rape and abduction under the IPC and Pocso Act provisions. This was because the woman was below 18 at the time. Later, the couple got married and had a child. The man was sentenced to 10 years in jail by a court in Deesa in March.
When the man's bail application was being heard, Justice Paresh Upadhyay questioned whether the punishment is for rape accused or child. He said there are many marriages that involve underage women. "But in such a situation because of the law, we have made the child illegitimate. What is the consequence?" the court said.
Judges take woman’s statement into account
On the court’s query on the stringent law’s effect, the prosecutor said that the high court has sent a recommendation to the Law Commission of India. The prosecutor observed that the recommendation says that the law prevailing prior to 2013, before the Nirbhaya case, was proper' because judicial officers were vested with the discretion to award appropriate sentences, even less than the minimum punishment.
But now, the minimum punishment that has to be awarded is 10 years in such cases, the prosecutor said.
The judges decided to hear the man’s appeal against his conviction and punishment. The judges began with a question, “How can this conviction be sustainable? Can I shut my eyes? We have made the child illegitimate…Numerous children become illegitimate in this manner.” The court took into consideration the statement of the woman, who had told the trial court that she had entered into a relationship with the man willingly.
The court further said, “Judicial cognizance can be taken of the fact that there are a large number of marriages taking place in Gujarat where girls might not have attained the age prescribed under the law…”. The court added: “Here the parents have accepted that it is their child, but it is reduced to illegitimate child. This is not upholding of law, but a miscarriage of justice.”
(The victim's identity has not been revealed to protect her privacy as per Supreme Court directives on cases related to sexual assault)