A man, on trial for eight years on charges of kidnapping a minor whom he later married and had two children with, has been acquitted by a Delhi court which said the girl willingly left her house with him as they were in love.
Additional Sessions Judge Sanjay Garg freed the Laxmi Nagar resident of the charge of kidnapping the 17-year-old girl for compelling her to marry him or to have illicit physical relations.
The court noted that the girl is happily married with the man and they have two children.
"The girl has specifically stated that she was in love with the accused and willingly and at her own she left her house, went with accused and married him. Even today as per prosecutrix and her parents, she is happily married with accused and having two children out of this marriage.
"The necessary ingredients of taking and enticing, as defined under section 361 of the IPC, also remains unproved," the court said.
The girl's step-father had lodged a complaint at Shakarpur police station here in June 2005 that his 13-year-old daughter had gone to work but did not return.
He had apprehension that a woman who used to work with his daughter might have made her run away with the accused.
The girl and the man had got married in a temple here and went to his native place in Bihar. She was brought back to Delhi by her family and police in August 2005.
The girl told the court that at the time of incident, she was 19 years old and she was having an affair with the man but her parents were against it. So she had gone to Bihar with the accused on her own.
The court said there is no documentary proof filed on record by prosecution regarding her age and as per the settled law, in the absence of any proof the statement of parents regarding age of the prosecutrix has to be believed.
Her mother had said that the girl was 17 years old at the time of the incident.
