Bombay HC Grants Bail To Man In Kidnapping Case, Citing Girl's Willingness To Leave Home And Take ₹20,000"

The Bombay High Court has granted bail to a 25-year-old man for allegedly kidnapping and sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl, noting that she left her house without informing her parents and took Rs 20,000 with her. The court also noted that although the victim was a minor, she had "sufficient knowledge and capacity" to understand her actions and had voluntarily joined the accused for 15 days.

"The conduct of the prosecutrix (victim) is indicative of the fact that she left her home without informing her parents by her own will and also took Rs 20,000 from her house without informing anybody. She surrendered to the physical desires of the applicant out of her love and affection for him for 15 days when both of them stayed together," Justice Milind Jadhav said on February 13.

The judge added, "No doubt that the prosecutrix, under the purview of the POCSO Act, is a minor. However, the facts of the present case indicate that she had sufficient knowledge and capacity to know the full import of her actions and what she was doing. She had only thereafter voluntarily joined and stayed with the applicant for 15 days."

The HC was hearing a bail plea filed by the man. The case dates back to August 17, 2022, when the minor girl's father lodged a missing person complaint with the NRI Coastal Police Station, Navi Mumbai. The family discovered her absence after she failed to return home, and her mother later found Rs 20,000 missing from the house.

The girl resurfaced on September 1, 2022, when the accused dropped her outside Panvel Police Station. In her statement, she admitted to being in a romantic relationship with the accused and voluntarily leaving home to meet him in Mumbai.

Prosecution claimed that the accused took the minor to Lonavala, where they stayed in a hotel for two nights before moving to his friend's house in Panvel. They remained there until August 30, 2022. Upon learning that the police were investigating the case and had apprehended his friend's brother in Punjab, the accused decided to drop the girl at the police station the following day.

The prosecutrix later alleged that during their stay together, the accused forced himself on her multiple times. Defence argued that the girl willingly accompanied the accused and took money from her home, demonstrating awareness of her actions. Moreover, it cited a medical report that found no injuries.

The Additional Public Prosecutor (APP) opposed the bail, emphasizing that the girl was a minor and that consent was irrelevant under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. The APP contended that the accused had exploited the minor's vulnerability and persuaded her to elope without parental consent.

The court noted that the relationship between the two was not violent, and the accused had no criminal antecedents. Highlighting that the man had been in custody for more than 1 year and 6 months, the court granted him bail on a bond of Rs 15,000.