Upholding the conviction of an elderly person in the case of rape of a minor, the Kerala High Court held that surrender cannot construe as consent for sexual intercourse. In its order, the High Court says in a country like India that commits to gender equality, only sexual intercourse which a person welcomes can construe as not violative of his or her rights and can get a consensual consideration. (Source: Deccan Herald)
The accused in the case was found guilty by a trial court of raping a 14-year-old girl, belonging to the Scheduled Caste, several times beginning in February 2009, and also impregnating her, reports the Live Law. The HC declared him guilty of the offence punishable under Section 376 of the Indian Penal Code (punishment for rape). (Source: The News Minute)
The Case Details
The 59-year-old accused had filed an appeal. It said that the evidence given by the girl would ‘show beyond doubt that the sexual intercourse was consensual’. He also contended that she used to go to his house as and when he desired. And then had sex with him.
The victim, who was a Class 8 student, would go to the house of the accused to watch television. The court noted that the accused took advantage of the situation and made sexual advances towards her.
Also, one must note that minors cannot, by law, offer consent for sexual intercourse. However, the Kerala HC’s order also throws light on understanding what comes under consent and what does not. (Source: The News Minute)
Justice PB Suresh Kumar observed that it is necessary to understand the concept of consent in the context of rape. He said, “It is now settled that mere act of helpless resignation in the face of inevitable compulsion, quiescence, nonresistance, or passive giving in, when volitional faculty is either clouded by fear or vitiated by duress. It cannot deem to be ‘consent’ as the law states and the consent, on the part of a woman as a defence to an allegation of rape, requires voluntary participation, not only after the exercise of intelligence, based on the knowledge, of the significance and moral quality of the act but after having freely exercised a choice between resistance and assent.” (Source: The News Minute)
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