Recently, the bench of the Bombay High Court quashed an FIR which was registered against 19 yrs old Student under IPC and POCSO for the abduction and sexual assault of a minor teenager.

The dual bench headed by Justice Nitin Sambre and SG Dige observed that the Couple were living together for a long and was on friendly terms. Further, it was observed that miscommunication between the two is the reason behind an FIR.

The issue of quashing a POCSO case by consent is pending adjudication before the Apex Court of India.

An FIR was registered against the petitioner on 26th November 2021 by the victim’s mother under Section 363 (kidnapping) of the IPC after the victim girl, aged 15 years, could not be found. Subsequently, Section 354 of the IPC and Sections 8 (sexual assault) and 12 (sexual harassment) of the POCSO Act were added.

The teenager’s mother submitted an affidavit before the Hon’ble Court in which she mentioned that she got to know her daughter eloped with the petitioner on her own accord and the allegations of sexual harassment under section 354 of the IPC were added only subsequently.

With this background, the petitioner boy sought to quash the FIR before the High Court. The court recorded that it had interacted with the complainant and found she was not pressured for the settlement.

Hence, the Bombay High Court quashed the FIR.

Case Title: Shiva Chanappa Odala v. State of Maharashtra & Anr.