'Can't Check Aadhaar Card Before Sex': High Court On Minor's Rape Charge

The court said it seems to be a case of honey-trapping and no satisfactory reason was given for the "inordinate delay" in the registration of an FIR

A person in a consensual physical relationship is not required to judicially scrutinise the date of birth of his partner, the Delhi High Court has said while granting bail to a man accused of "raping" his alleged minor partner who has "three different dates of birth", according to official documents.

The court said a person is not required to see the Aadhaar card or the PAN card or verify his partner's date of birth from her school records before getting into a consensual physical relationship with her and granted relief to the accused who claimed that the prosecutrix was giving her dates of birth in accordance with her own convenience only to invoke the provisions of the child abuse law against him.

"The person, who is in a consensual physical relationship with another person, is not required to judicially scrutinise the date of birth of the other person. He is not required to see the Aadhaar card, the PAN card and verify the date of birth from her school records before he enters into a physical relationship.

"The very fact that there is an Aadhaar card and that the same shows the date of birth as 01.01.1998 is sufficient for the applicant to form an opinion that he was not indulging in a physical relationship with a minor," Justice Jasmeet Singh said in the order dated August 24.