UP: 30-year-old man gets 7-year jail for raping minor 'wife' in 2015

MEERUT/BAREILLY: A 30-year-old man was sentenced to seven years in jail for raping a 13-year-old minor girl (now 22 years) in 2015, after she eloped with him and got married. The girl, however, returned to her parents after two months but later returned to her husband's home. The couple now has two children and is expecting another.
The Bareilly trial court order came on Wednesday, and the couple now plans to move the high court against the verdict.
After eloping, the girl returned in May 2015, following which her father filed a kidnapping complaint in Bareilly. An FIR under IPC sections 363 (kidnapping) and 366 (kidnapping, abducting or inducing a woman to compel her marriage, etc.) was lodged. Police conducted a medical examination of the minor girl, following which the consulting doctor claimed "no definite opinion can be given regarding sexual assault."
During investigation, police took the minor girl's statement under CrPC section 161, following which relevant sections of the Pocso Act and IPC section 376 (rape) were added to the FIR.
In her statement recorded under CrPC section 164 before the magistrate, the girl said, "I eloped and got married on my own will. He didn't force me to take any step, and I am living a happy married life with him, and want to live with him only."
However, being a minor, her statement in court was not admissible.
During the course of trial, the woman claimed that a woman constable compelled her to put her sign on a blank paper. "Throughout the trial, she denied the prosecution's theory of kidnapping and rape," said advocate Mohd Firoz.
Under IPC section 375 (sixth definition), "a man is said to commit 'rape' with or without a woman's consent when she is less than 18 years of age."