HC grants anticipatory bail in many cases of ‘child marriage’

These are not drugs or smuggling cases, observed the Gauhati HC. Pic/Twitter

Granting anticipatory bail to certain accused in separate matters booked under the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006 r/w the POCSO Act, the Gauhati High Court observed on Monday that these are not matters that require custodial interrogation.

"If marriage is taking place in violation of law, the law will take its own course. These cases have been happening since time immemorial... At this moment, this court thinks that these are not matters for custodial interrogation. We will ask them to appear and record their statements. These are not NDPS or smuggling or stolen property cases," the bench of Justice Suman Shyam observed.

Also Read: ‘Women's education, livelihood way to end child marriage'

In response to this, when the counsel for the state argued that these are serious matters, Justice Shyam remarked, "What is the POCSO here? Merely because POCSO is added, does it mean the judges will not see what is there? We are not acquitting anyone here. No one is preventing you from probing."

"You [the state] should proceed as per law, file a charge sheet and if they are convicted, then they are convicted. It is causing havoc in the private lives of people, there are children, there are family members and old people," the bench further remarked.

Justice Shyam said child marriage is a bad idea, but the court will give its views when the right time comes. At the moment, the only issue is whether they [the accused] should be arrested and put in jail, he added.

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