Citing Romeo-Juliet, Madras HC drops POCSO proceedings against auto driver who married 'victim'

CHENNAI: Referring to the Romeo - Juliet story the Madras High Court quashed the prosecution against a 27-year-old auto driver under the Pocso Act, since the accused married the victim girl and was living happily as a family.

Justice G Jayachandran wrote that It is the case of Romeo and Juliet, which ended successfully in marriage and the enlargement of the family by the birth of a child and quashed the pending proceedings against the accused.

The judicial system has to deal with the strict compliance of law to be enforced in this case or with humanitarian reasons, " unfortunately, the Pocso Act is silent", wrote the judge.

The inherent power under Section 482 of Cr P C is meant for cases of this nature and to meet the ends of justice the prosecution against the husband has to be quashed, or else, instead of protecting the minor girl, who attained majority, it will create vulnerability to her and force her to exploitation, read the judgment.

In 2018, the mother of the girl lodged a complaint against an auto driver that he kidnapped her 16-year-old daughter.

Based on the complaint the police lodged a complaint against the auto driver under the Pocso Act.

The police nabbed the auto driver and filed a final report in 2022 before the Mahila Court, Allikulam, Chennai.

However, the girl turned hostile and said that on her own wish and love, she eloped with the auto driver.

It was also submitted that she married the accused and now they are living as husband and wife and a female child was born to them.

After the perusal of the documents, the judge quashed the proceedings pending against the accused.