Mere friendship with girl doesn’t give man right to have sex without consent: Delhi HC

The Delhi High Court denied bail to a man accused of repeatedly raping a minor, stating that friendship doesn't imply consent, and a minor's consent is legally invalid. The court emphasized the victim's age and detailed allegations

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court has said mere friendship with a girl doesn’t give a man right to have sex with her without consent and dismissed a man’s bail plea accused of sexually assaulting a minor.

Justice Girish Kathpalia rejected the man’s claim of having consensual relations with the girl pointing out that even consent was not lawful when it comes to 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 order held on July 24.

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The court underlined the girl’s specific allegations in the FIR and her testimony about the man’s repeated sexual assault despite her protestations. “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 order said.

The judge went on to observe that it was “not a fit case to grant bail to the accused”.

The prosecution alleged in April 2023, the man, working as a construction labourer in NDMC apartments in Vikaspuri befriended the minor and raped her subsequently.

The girl was threatened not to confide her order in anyone and the man continued to rape her till November 2023, it alleged further. The man claimed the girl was a major at the time of the incident and he had consensual sex with her.

Rejecting the plea, the court said a single handpicked line from the testimony of the girl’s mother cannot be read in isolation of the remaining material on record.

The court considered the her educational records establishing her age as a minor and said it couldn’t minutely examine evidence in a bail application.