Marriage does not sanctify rape, according to the Delhi High Court

According to the Delhi High Court, the mere fact that sexual assault led to a marriage between the victim and the accused or to the birth of a child does not lessen or sanctify the crime of rape. A man was appearing in court to request bail after being charged with kidnapping and raping a 14-year-old girl, whom he later claimed to have married in a temple. Justice Anoop Kumar Mendiratta denied the petitioner’s request for bail, stating that “such occurrences of enticing a kid and entering into a physical relationship” cannot be handled routinely. The victim, who had been missing since September 2019, was later found at the petitioner’s home.