THE BOMBAY High Court rejected the bail application of a 36-year-old man who allegedly sexually assaulted a minor forced to marry him. The court observed that the girl’s mother had forced her to get married under coercion for monetary gain, and that the victim had to succumb to the sexual desires of the accused. The accused, Pratik Shah, was arrested by the Bhayander police in September 2015 for rape, causing hurt, criminal intimidation under the Indian Penal Code as well as under relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act. The girl’s mother and brother, who forced her into the marriage, were made accused in the case and are absconding. The incident came to light when the 14-year-old girl was spotted loitering near a temple in Bhayander. When she was taken to the police station, she revealed that her mother and brother had forced her to marry a man living in Gujarat and then left for Bidar in Karnataka, police sources said. The man brought the girl to Bhayander, where she was repeatedly assaulted sexually and physically by the accused. She fled to her home in Karnataka, but her mother took her back to Pratik in Gujarat under threat and force. She was sexually assaulted again, before fleeing to Mumbai. After she revealed her ordeal, a case was registered at Bhayander police station and Pratik was arrested, police sources said. The Additional Public prosecutor submitted before the court that the victim was sold to the man by her mother and that the marriage was against the minor’s will. The counsel for the accused told the court that he agreed to marry her under the impression that she had attained majority. Justice Sadhana Jadhav, after perusing relevant materials, stated, “The court cannot be oblivious to the fact that the age of the accused was 35 at the time of the incident and the girl was hardly 15.”Observing that this was not just a case of child marriage, the court observed, “The mother of the minor girl had forced her daughter to get married to the accused under coercion for vested interests.” The court, while rejecting the bail application, also said, “It is more than clear that victim girl was forced to succumb to the sexual desires of a man more than double her age, at the hands of her biological mother. Therefore, the applicant does not deserve to be enlarged on bail.”
