The Delhi High Court has refused to grant anticipatory bail to a man accused of raping a 17-year-old girl, observing that friendship cannot be used as a defence for sexual assault, confinement, or physical violence.Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma, in an order passed on October 17, dismissed the plea under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, noting that the accused had not joined the investigation despite his bail applications being withdrawn or rejected on four earlier occasions.
“The contention that the applicant and the complainant were friends, and therefore it could be a case of a consensual relationship, cannot be accepted,” the court said. “Even if the parties were friends, friendship does not give any licence to the applicant to rape the victim repeatedly, confine her in his friend’s house, and beat her mercilessly,” Justice Sharma observed, citing the survivor’s statement and supporting medical evidence.
