Uttarakhand High Court quashes rape and POCSO trial after accused marries victim who was a minor at the time of the incident

The applicant was facing trial in Special Session Trial No. 49 of 2025, arising from Case Crime No. 320 of 2024, for offences under Section 376 IPC read with Sections 3/4 of the POCSO Act

The victim was a minor at the time of the alleged incident.

The applicant and victim later married in a Gurudwara on 19 April 2026; the victim and her mother, the informant, stated that they did not wish to continue the prosecution

The applicant petitioned under Section 528 of the BNSS, 2023, seeking quashing of the proceedings, supported by a compounding application

Whether the High Court should quash the pending prosecution under Section 528 of the BNSS where the offences were non-compoundable and the victim was a minor at the time of the alleged incident, but she later married the applicant

Whether, in light of the marriage and the victim’s and informant’s stated wishes, continuing the trial would serve any useful purpose

Section 528 of the BNSS, 2023, was invoked as the basis for the High Court’s inherent jurisdiction to quash the proceedings

The alleged offences were under Section 376 IPC read with Sections 3/4 of the POCSO Act

The State submitted that these offences were non-compoundable

The judgment cited no precedent or further legal test governing the exercise of the Court’s inherent jurisdiction

The Court considered that the applicant and victim had married, that their families accepted the marriage, and that the victim and her mother did not wish to proceed with the trial.

Although the State noted that the offences were non-compoundable and the victim had been a minor at the time of the alleged incident, it did not oppose quashing in the circumstances presented.

On that basis, the Court concluded that continuing the proceedings would be a futile exercise.

quashed the entire proceeding in Special Session Trial No. 49 of 2025 arising from Case Crime No. 320 of 2024, pending before the 1st Additional Sessions Judge/FTSC (POCSO), Kashipur, District Udham Singh Nagar