‘Marry the girl within 15 days of release’: Allahabad High Court imposes bail condition on POCSO accused
The counsel for the accused had submitted that the couple was in fact in love and they had eloped together only to get married. The girl and her father also had no objection to accused’s release with a condition to get married to the girl.
The Allahabad High Court recently allowed the bail plea of a man who had allegedly enticed away a minor while imposing a condition that soon after he comes out of jail, within 15 days he will marry the prosecutrix who had given birth to his child.
The bench of Justice Dinesh Kumar Singh imposed such a condition in light of the submissions made by the prosecutrix and her father that they had no objection if the accused is enlarged on bail provided that he performs marriage with the prosecutrix in accordance with the Hindu rites and rituals and also get the marriage registered.
Court ordered that "within 15 days from the date of release, the accused shall perform marriage with the prosecutrix and get the same registered within a period of one month and he will give all rights to the prosecutrix and his child as wife and daughter".
As per the First Information Report (FIR) registered under Sections 363, 366, 376 IPC & 3/4 POCSO Act, the 17-year-old prosecutrix had been enticed away by accused Monu on the night of March 22-23 of this year. Thereafter, the girl got pregnant and delivered a girl child from the accused who is currently one month old.
Moving the bail plea before the high court, the counsel for the accused submitted that the couple was in fact in love and they had eloped in order to get married. He further stated that the accused was ready and willing to marry the prosecutrix as soon as he comes out of jail..
On September 15, the court had directed the prosecutrix and her father to be present before the court to place their stand on the issue. In pursuance of the same, the prosecutrix and her father appeared before the court and submitted that they had no objection to accused’s release if he performs the marriage.
Court took the same into consideration and without expressing any opinion on the merit of the case, it found the case to be a fit for granting bail.
Accordingly, court ordered for accused’s release on bail subject to certain conditions which included a marriage within 15 days between the accused and the prosecutrix.
Case Title: Monu v. State Of UP