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Vishal vs. State & Anr.

Criminal Miscellaneous Case · 2026:DHC:7470Decided 1 Sept 2026New Delhi Bench
CRL.M.C. 6399/2026CNR: DLHC010407852026
Justice Manoj Jain

Background

A 2023 FIR was originally registered as a missing-person complaint by the mother of a 17-year-old girl, later invoking Sections 363 and 376 IPC and Section 6 of the POCSO Act after the girl was found to have eloped with and married the petitioner. The girl, in her Section 164 CrPC statement, said she had willingly eloped, married the petitioner, and was pregnant.

Decision Breakdown

By the time of this petition, the woman had turned major, the couple had been living together as husband and wife since 2023, and now had two children together. She appeared in court and reaffirmed that the relationship was consensual, that continuing the case was causing her family distress, and that she wanted it quashed; her mother too, contacted by phone, had no objection. Citing recent Supreme Court guidance (including on Section 376 IPC cases) that proceedings can be quashed even for serious offences where the victim has since built a stable family life and conviction prospects are bleak, the Court quashed the FIR under Section 528 BNSS.

Lesson Learnt

Even in cases initially framed around serious offences like POCSO/rape, courts may quash proceedings where the "victim," now an adult, confirms a consensual and enduring relationship and continuing prosecution would only harm her settled family life, though such quashing remains an exception applied cautiously, not a routine outcome.

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