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Mahendra Subhashbhai Vankhede v. The State of Gujarat

Criminal Appeal · 2017 INSC 716Decided 8 Aug 2017
Criminal Appeal Nos. 1365-1366 of 2017
Justice N.V. Ramana · Justice Prafulla C. Pant

Background

A father reported his minor daughter (under 16) missing from school in 2008; she had voluntarily left home due to harassment by her mother and was found ten days later living with the appellant, a 19-year-old she was in a relationship with. The trial court convicted the appellant under IPC Sections 363, 366 and 376 but gave a reduced sentence of 2 years 9 months, citing the consensual, adolescent nature of the relationship. The Gujarat High Court later enhanced this to 7 years' imprisonment on appeal by the State and the complainant, finding no special reason for leniency.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court restored the trial court's lighter sentence, holding that the facts, no force or threat, a consensual relationship between adolescents, the girl leaving home of her own will, were materially different from the precedent (Parminder v. State of NCT Delhi) the High Court relied on, where the victim had been forcibly raped and threatened. The Court instead followed State of Punjab v. Rakesh Kumar, which dealt with a comparable adolescent love-affair scenario. It noted the incident predated the 2013 Criminal Law Amendment that introduced mandatory minimum sentences, so a lesser sentence was legally permissible on special reasons. Since the appellant had already served more than three years in total (including after the High Court's enhancement), the Court allowed the appeal and ordered his immediate release.

Lesson Learnt

Sentencing in cases involving adolescents must weigh the actual facts, consent, absence of force or threat, and the ages/circumstances of the parties, rather than mechanically applying the harshest precedent; courts can impose sentences below a statutory norm where the law in force at the time permitted it for special reasons.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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