The Delhi High Court has said that merely being friends with a girl does not entitle a man to have sex with her without consent, and dismissed the bail plea of a man accused of raping a minor.
Justice Girish Kathpalia rejected the accused's claim of consensual relations, stressing that even consent is not lawful when the girl is a minor. “Merely because a girl befriends a boy, the latter cannot be given liberty to indulge into sexual intercourse with her without her consent. Further, even the consent would not be lawful in the present case because the prosecutrix was minor in age,” the court observed in its 24 July order.
Referring to the girl's testimony and the FIR, the court said, “I am unable to find it a case of consensual relations merely because in the FIR the prosecutrix stated that the accused/applicant with his sweet talk befriended her.” The judge held it was not a fit case for bail.
According to the prosecution, the man, a construction labourer working at NDMC apartments in Vikaspuri, raped the minor multiple times between April and November 2023 after befriending her and threatening her to remain silent.
The accused argued that the girl was a major and had consented to sex, but the court relied on her educational records to confirm she was a minor and said a single statement from her mother could not be viewed in isolation. The court also said detailed evidence could not be assessed at the bail stage.
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