Chandigarh: Age of ‘minor victim’ not proven in court, seven released

A local court on Monday acquitted seven people in a case involving rape of a minor, child marriage and demand for bride price after the prosecution failed to prove key charges, especially the age of the complainant.

The court ruled that the claim that the complainant was a minor at the age of 15 could not be proven. Moreover, DNA evidence revealed that the father of her baby was another man named Gulab Singh, with whom she was having an affair. As a result, charges against the girl’s husband, father-in-law and parents were dropped.

The court acquitted the complainant’s husband Ranjeet Thakur, father Bijender Thakur, mother Kala Devi, brother-in-law Nand Kishore, complainant’s parents Narayan Thakur and Ratan Devi and also Gulab Singh.

According to the prosecution, in February 2020, a call was received from the Child Helpline number about the presence of an underage girl at Chandigarh railway station. The girl was later shifted to a shelter home in Sector-15.

The girl, who claimed to be 15 years old at the time, filed a complaint against her husband and father-in-law, claiming that she was pregnant and that her mother-in-law beat her for dowry.

However, defense lawyer Pradeep Kumar said the prosecution did not provide verification of the woman’s age through bone ossification tests. “It was determined that the girl ran away from her native village because she was in a relationship with someone else. “She later fabricated the entire story and made her husband and father-in-law file a case of rape and child marriage,” he added.