Bombay HC grants bail to teenager booked for raping girlfriend

The Bombay high court on Thursday granted bail to an 18-year-old, arrested for raping his girlfriend, after noticing that the survivor did not complain about the purported crime till their relationship turned sour.

The FIR, prima facie reveals that the survivor never complained about the physical relationship till the relationship took a U-turn and both mutually decided to part ways, justice Bharati Dangre noted while granting bail to the teenager, booked by Cyber Cell of the Mumbai police on July 7.

The survivor complained that she was introduced to the accused when she was studying in junior college. The acquaintance slowly turned into a love affair, and the two used to visit each other’s homes. She alleged once when she visited the house of the accused, he took advantage of the fact that no one else was present in the house and established a physical relationship with her.

Though she maintained the act was without her consent, she did not lodge any complaint about the incident. The complaint was lodged only after the relationship turned sour and they parted ways sometime in last week of June. The trigger for lodging of the complaint, the girl claimed, was that the accused sent some of his intimate photos with the survivor to her mother and also threatened to send the photos to her other family members.

“This is a typical case of teenagers moving too fast and eager to explore the world hurriedly,” said justice Bharati Dangre talking about the entire episode.

“The sheer hurry without maturely understanding each other is typical of adolescence and before the relationship took a concrete shape, the applicant and complainant became physical,” said the judge. “The applicant, one of the party to this hurried relationship is in trouble as he is arraigned as an accused for a serious offence of rape and is booked under one of the stringent laws – POCSO Act.”

Justice Dangre ordered the teenager to be released on bail on furnishing personal bond of Rs. 25,000 and a surety in the same amount.

Before ordering his release on bail, the court confirmed that the investigation officer has seized his mobile phone and that he has not forwarded the intimate photos to anyone else.