New Delhi: A city court on Friday sentenced a man to 14 months' rigorous imprisonment for kidnapping a girl six years ago in West Delhi but acquitted him of rape charges after it found that she was a consenting party.
"It is a case where the prosecutrix (girl) had lived with the accused for a long time in various towns. The element of consent is manifest. Yet she being less than 18 years of age, the offence of kidnapping is technically made out," Additional Sessions Judge Narottam Kaushal observed.
The court sentenced 22-year-old Sanjay Singh, a native of Azamgarh district of Uttar Pradesh, guilty under Sections 363 (kidnapping) and 366 (kidnapping for the purpose of marriage), him to 14 months' imprisonment and also imposed a fine of Rs 4,000 on him.
Satya Pal lodged a complaint with the police station Uttam Nagar on August 19, 2000 alleging that his minor daughter had been enticed away by his neighbour Sanjay Singh.
The girl returned home about seven months after on April 26, 2001. The accused was arrested on December 17.
"Since, the girl was more than 16 years of age on the date of her alleged rape, she was in capacity to give the consent," the court held after it found that she had not raised any alarm during her stay with the accused in different places like Mumbai and Gurgaon.
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