B. SURESH Vs. STATE OF KARNATAKA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Heard the learned counsel for the appellant and the learned Government Pleader for the respondent State.

(2.) The appellant was the accused, whereby it was alleged in the complaint against him, that the complainant's daughter Amba Rajeshwari, a minor, was enticed by the appellant on the pretext of being in love and promising to marry her, had abducted her from her home at Earanna Camp between the nights of 27th and 28th June 2006, at about 1.00 a.m., and took her to a temple at Dharmasthala and is said to have tied a 'taali' around her neck using a piece of turmeric and thread and making her to believe that he had married her and took her to the house of one Veeresh CW-5, the friend of the appellant at Karatagi Village, and had repeated that he and the daughter of the complainant Amba Rajeshwari were married, and resided there as husband and wife. It is alleged that he had committed rape of Amba Rajeshwari, without her consent.

(3.) The learned counsel for the appellant, while taking this Court through the evidence and the reasoning of the court below, would primarily contend that the prosecution having alleged that the court proceeding on the basis that the victim was a minor and therefore, even if there was consensual sex, it would be characterized as rape in view of the tenor of the relevant provisions of law, has resulted in a miscarriage of justice. The learned counsel would draw attention to the documents on the basis of which the age of the victim has been accepted as being