‘Criminality Stands Washed Off’: Allahabad HC Quashes POCSO Case After Couple’s Marriage and Child

The Allahabad High Court has quashed the POCSO Act case against a man accused of kidnapping and sexually assaulting a Sant Kabir Nagar woman, after noting that the two had married several years ago and were now living together with their child following a mediated settlement with the woman’s family.

Court said that continuing the prosecution would serve no purpose given the “subsequent developments” and the “remote and bleak” chance of conviction.

"In view of the subsequent development, the criminality, if any, committed by the applicants now stands washed off," the bench of Justice Vivek Kumar Singh noted.  

The order came in an application filed under Section 528 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), where the accused sought quashing of the 2017 trial arising from a 2017 case. The case had initially been registered under Sections 363 and 366 of the IPC for kidnapping and inducing a minor girl, along with Sections 504 and 506 for criminal intimidation, and Sections 7/8 of the POCSO Act. The man’s family members, named as co-accused, were booked only for intimidation.

According to the FIR lodged on 19 January 2017, the complainant alleged that his daughter, claimed to be a minor, had been enticed away on 30 December 2016 by the applicant. He further alleged that when he confronted the accused’s family, he was abused and threatened.

The girl was recovered within a month. In her statement to police under Section 161 CrPC, she said she had left her home willingly and considered herself a major. She also expressed her intention to marry the applicant and stated that no sexual act had occurred. She repeated the same version before a magistrate under Section 164 CrPC. Medical examination revealed no injuries, and a subsequent age determination by the Chief Medical Officer assessed her as 18 years old.

Despite these findings, the police filed a chargesheet in March 2017, and the special POCSO court took cognizance. The matter remained pending for several years and was referred to mediation in September 2025 by the High Court. At the mediation centre, the woman, her father (the original informant), and the accused husband informed mediators that the couple had long since married and were raising their son, born in August 2018. The complainant expressly conveyed that he had no objection to quashing the case.

During hearings on the quashing plea, the State opposed the request, arguing that offences under the POCSO Act cannot be settled, relying on Supreme Court decisions including State of Kerala v. Hafsal Rahman and Ramji Lal Bairwa v. State of Rajasthan. However, the prosecution did not dispute the marriage, child, or the woman’s consistent stand since 2017.

The High Court examined a series of Supreme Court judgments where prosecutions were quashed after the accused and victim married and had children, including K. Dhandapani, Mafat Lal, Dasari Srikant, Shriram Urav, and Mahesh Mukund Patel. In these cases, the Court had exercised its extraordinary powers noting that disturbing an established family life would cause more harm than allowing the prosecution to continue.

Applying these principles, Justice Singh observed that the couple’s marriage was not in dispute, that they had lived together peacefully for years, and that the complainant himself had agreed to settle the case.

Given this backdrop court held that “no useful purpose would be served” in continuing a prosecution that would only “break a happy family” and burden the criminal justice system. Court added that the likelihood of conviction was extremely low in view of the victim’s consistent statements and the medical and age-determination findings.

Allowing the application, the High Court quashed the entire 2017 trial, the chargesheet, and the cognizance order pending before the POCSO court in Sant Kabir Nagar.

Case Title: Wasiullah And 2 Others vs. State Of U.P. And 3 Others

Order Date: November 20, 2025

Bench: Justice Vivek Kumar Singh