Mumbai: The consent of the minor girl is immaterial, the court has held while sentencing a 21-year-old man arrested by the MHB Colony police for gang rape, involving two other minors, in December 2017. The victim girl allegedly had an affair with one of the minor boys and consented to a physical relationship but later denied it in her testimony. Accepting her testimony, the court denied the defence taken by the accused.
On December 17, 2017, the accused and his two friends threatened and dragged the victim girl, who was only 16 years old at the time, to a parked auto-rickshaw, and took turns to rape her.
The team of officers under senior police inspector Sudhir Kudalkar brought 14 witnesses to testify against the accused. The defence had claimed that the girl on her own accord joined the accused as she had an affair with one of them. The defence also claimed that the girl knew the consequences of her act.
The court observed, “There is nothing on record to suggest there was consent on her part for sexual intercourse. Though the mother and aunt of the victim admitted that there was a love affair between the victim and a friend, she denied it. Even otherwise, the victim was under the age of 18, so her consent is immaterial.” The two juvenile accused, however, were referred to the juvenile justice board.
