There was consent, can’t say sex with minor was rape: Orissa high court

CUTTACK: Amid the debate over lowering the age of consent, the Orissa high court recently acquitted a 45-year-old man, who has been in jail for nearly 10 years on the charge of raping a minor, observing that the survivor’s statement claiming she did not consent to the sexual act was “not sufficient to convict the accused”, as it was not borne out by the evidence on record.
Justice S K Sahoo said that from the case records, it appeared that the girl, who was 17 then, was accompanying the accused into the jungles and having sex with him every day, knowing fully well that he was a married person with four children. She did not raise any objection about the act, nor did she disclose it to anyone till she was found to be pregnant.
“The accused never promised to marry her. She also knew that marriage with the accused was not possible as he was a married person with children. Therefore, in my humble view, she was a consenting party,” Justice Sahoo observed in his July 5 verdict.
Santanu Kaudi was convicted of rape by the additional session court in Sundargarh on August 14, 2018, five years after the girl’s father had lodged an FIR. The verdict was challenged by Kaudi in 2019.
Insisting that the court “has to assess the entirety of evidence that comes during trial to come to the just conclusion”, Justice Sahoo said: “Consent or absence of it could be gathered from the attendant circumstances. Previous or contemporaneous acts or the subsequent conduct can be legitimate guides.”
The court said that even in the absence of a specific defence plea of consent being taken by an accused charged with rape, if the evidence on record indicated that the victim was a consenting party, then the sexual act could not be termed rape, the judge further said. The court, however, ruled that the compensation amount paid to the girl need not be recovered from her.