The court noted that both the accused and the girl are residing "happily" as husband and wife and it even went ahead to shower its blessings on the couple.
A Delhi court has pulled up the parents of a girl for lodging a criminal case against a man who married their daughter after falling in love with her and acquitted him of the charges of rape and kidnapping.
"It is unfortunate that the accused had to remain incarcerated in judicial custody for a few months due to ulterior motives on the part of the parents of the girl," Additional Sessions Judge Dharmesh Sharma said.
Absolving Nazim of all charges, the court noted that both the accused and the girl are residing "happily" as husband and wife and it even went ahead to shower its blessings on the couple.
"The girl has been appearing in this trial along with the accused and they have a child from the said marriage and courts' blessings are with them," the judge said.
Nazim, in his statement before the court, denied he had kidnapped or raped the girl. He said they were in love and defied the girl's parents, who were putting stringent conditions for their marriage, including mehar of Rs51,000 and four tola gold.
During the trial, the parents of the girl, besides her brother, failed to prove that she was a minor on the date of the incident. The girl herself did not support her parents.
"It may be indicated that the girl had neither supported the case of the prosecution before the Metropolitan Magistrate nor before this court... She insisted that she was more than 18 years of age at the time of the incident," the court noted.
It also said when two views were possible with regard to age of the girl on the date of the incident, the view favouring the accused must be adopted.
The court regarded the age of the girl as between 17 to 18 at the time of the incident on February 27, 2008.
Had the girl's age been proved to be below 16 years, the court would not have any option but to convict the accused as the girl is not considered to be capable of giving consent for intercourse or even marriage at that age.
Besides, a Muslim priest who had performed the 'nikah' ceremony of the accused with the girl, also testified that it was done voluntarily and produced a nikahnama to support his statement.
"There is no evidence that the accused enticed her and took her out of the control of her guardian. He merely complied with her wishes," the court said.
A case was registered on February 27, 2008 on a complaint of the parents of the girl against Nazim alleging he kidnapped their minor daughter. He was arrested on April 28, 2008 and the girl was rescued from his company.
Nazim had to spend a few months in jail before being freed on bail by the court.
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