RAJEEV KUMAR vs STATE (GOVT OF NCT OF DELHI)

Judgment text excerpt

$~63 * IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI % Date of decision: 01st August 2025 + CRL.M.C. 5178/2025, CRL.M.A. 22369/2025 RAJEEV KUMAR .....Petitioner Through: Ms. Komal and Mr. Aditya Arora, Advocates with applicant. versus STATE (GOVT OF NCT OF DELHI) .....Respondent Through: Mr. Sanjeev Sabharwal, APP for the State. Mr. Anirudh Sharma, Adv. with R-2. CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE ARUN MONGA ARUN MONGA, J. (Oral) 1. Petitioner, legally married to the prosecutix with a child born out of their relationship/wedlock, seeks quashing of an FIR No. 545/2023 dated 28.07.2023 lodged at the relevant time by his girlfriend, now wife, for the alleged offences under Section 376/366 of the IPC and Section 6 of POCSO Act, 2012. 2. The petitioner/husband (accused) is 22 years old, and the respondent No. 2/wife (prosecutrix) is 21 years old. 3. Facts of the case are rather peculiar. It is stated that in year 2020, the father of Respondent No. 2 for greed of money forcibly married her, then a minor (approx. 14 years old), to an elderly alcoholic man. Said marriage was per se illegal and non est. Be that as it may, after her mother’s death, Respondent No. 2 returned to her maternal home, where she developed a Signature Not Verified Signed By:RENUKA CRL.M.C. 5178/2025 Page 1 of 6 NEGI Signing Date:30.08.2025 17:49:07 close relationship with the petitioner. In February 2022, they got married and moved to Delhi. The petitioner provided her with a safe environment. Later, her father forcibly retrieved her and took her back. 4. In July 2023, while pregnant, Respondent No. 2 again ran away from clutches of her father. She got to know that petitioner is in Karnal, Haryana, but failing to find him, she thus sought shelter in an ashram. The ashram authorities rather handed her over to the polic