The girl says that she is living a ‘happy married life’ with the accused; Bench upholds tradition of girl marrying maternal uncle in Tamil Nadu
The girl says that she is living a ‘happy married life’ with the accused; Bench upholds tradition of girl marrying maternal uncle in Tamil Nadu
The Supreme Court has politely refused to “disturb” his “marriage” and “happy family life” by sending a convicted rapist and his minor niece to jail for the offense under the Protection of Child Sexual Offenses (POCSO) Act. ,
The practice of unmarried marriages between maternal uncles and nieces in Tamil Nadu triumphed over the strict provisions of the POCSO Act when a bench headed by Justice L Nageswara Rao spared a man who raped and then “married” his 14-year-old relative. ,
The case against the man was that he had physical relations with the girl when she was 14 years old on the promise of marrying him. He eventually married her. They had their first child at the age of 15 and the second at the age of 17.
He was convicted by the Sessions Court in 2018 and sentenced to 10 years rigorous imprisonment. The Madras High Court upheld the conviction the following year. Following this, a woodcutter and a member of the backward Walayar community moved the Supreme Court for relief.
During the hearing of the appeal, the Supreme Court asked the district judge to record her statement about the girl’s present condition. In her statement, she said that she was living a “happy married life” with two children.
The State of Tamil Nadu, represented by Advocate Joseph S. Aristotle did, strongly objected to letting the man go free just because he had decided to marry her.
Mr. Aristotle argued that the marriage was not legal. She was a minor when both children were born. There was no guarantee that the man would continue to care for the girl and the children once off the hook.
However, the court said that she “cannot take her eyes off the ground reality and disrupt the happy family life of the appellant and the prosecutor”.
“We have been informed about the custom of marriage of a girl with an maternal uncle in Tamil Nadu… For these reasons, the conviction and sentence of the appellant is set aside in the peculiar facts of the case and will not be treated as such. One Take precedent,” the Supreme Court said in a recent order.
Adding a note of precaution, the court said that the prosecutor (girl) or the state, on her behalf, can approach the Supreme Court to amend this order, if ever the man stopped taking care of her.