By M Ahmad
Srinagar- A court here on Wednesday rejected bail application of a man, accused of kidnapping and raping a minor girl from Bemina Srinagar in 2021.
Turning down the contention of the man that the girl eloped out of her free will with him, the court said that consent of the minor carries “little significance.”
According to police, a complaint was received by the victim’s father that his daughter left home for college and did not return back and she could not be traced even after a long search. On receiving the information, the police said, a missing report was entered on 9 November 2021 and the girl subsequently recovered after five days. On enquiry from her, police said, the girl revealed that one person namely Mohammad Sultan Najar alias Arif of Kudbal Chadoora Budgam kidnapped her to commit rape on her. Subsequently, a case (FIR No. 346/2021) under section 363, 376 IPC was registered in police station Parimpora Srinagar. The birth certificate of the girl was procured and she was found to be minor and as such offences under relevant sections of POCSO Act were also incorporated against the accused.
The police filed a charge sheet under section 363, 376 IPC and section 5/6 of POCSO Act against Najar on 18 January last year.
“The offence under which the accused is charged carries a heavy punishment and the only defense which has been taken by him is that the victim was in a relationship with him and had voluntarily eloped with him,” Court of presiding officer fast track court For POCSO Cases, Srinagar, Arti Mohan, said.
“This defense however has not been put by the accused to the prosecutrix/victim at any stage during her cross examination before this court and the accused has not been able to extract anything from the prosecutrix/victim which would convince this court that the relationship between them was in fact consensual,” the court said, adding, “Even otherwise the victim being a minor, her consent carries little significance and would not be of much help to the accused so far his defense is concerned”. Ultimately, the court rejected the bail application.
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