‘Love, not lust’: Supreme Court lets off Pocso convict; law must yield to the cause of justice, says apex court | India News

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court, using special powers under Article 142 to achieve complete justice beyond letter of law, has again come to the rescue of a young couple who were in a romantic relationship, but which resulted in commission of an offence because the girl was a minor. It acquitted the accused who had been sentenced to 10-year jail under POSCO Act, saying the crime was not the result of lust but love.The court highlighted that the couple are now happily married and have a child together.A bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and Augustine George Masih said while the man was guilty under the law, the rigidity of law should not be allowed to cause injustice. “We are persuaded to hold that this is a case where the law must yield to the cause of justice,” the judges ruled.The wife told the court that she wanted to lead a happy, normal, and peaceful life with him and their child born in their wedlock.“As per the law…, the appellant having been found guilty of a heinous offence, the proceedings in the present case on the basis of a compromise between the appellant and his wife cannot be quashed. But ignoring the cry of his wife for compassion and empathy will not, in our opinion, serve the ends of justice. Even the most serious offenders of law do receive justice moderated by compassion from the courts, albeit in appropriate cases. Given the peculiar facts and circumstances here, a balanced approach combining practicality and empathy is necessary,” the bench said.The Court said that keeping the man in jail would harm the family, the victim and the child. “While considering the offence… punishable under the POCSO Act, we have discerned that the crime was not the result of lust but love. The victim of crime herself has expressed her desire to live a peaceful and stable family life with the appellant, upon whom she is dependent, without the appellant carrying the indelible mark on his forehead of being an offender.But the court set some conditions on the man to protect the interest of wife and child. The husband must not desert them or child and must maintain them with dignity. “If, in future, there be any default on the appellant’s part and the same is brought to the notice of this Court by his wife or their child or the complainant, the consequences may not be too palatable for the appellant,” the court said.This is not the first time the Supreme Court has stepped in to stop consensual adolescent romantic relationships from being criminalised. It invoked Article 142 in another case in May to let off a convict under POCSO Act and expressed wonder over how a girl from a village in West Bengal had fought a legal battle singlehandedly, after being abandoned by her family and ostracised by society, to get her lover released from jail. The court said it doesn’t want to heap on to the injustice already suffered by the victim at the hands of the society, her family and legal system.