Before engaging in a sexual relation, a person is not necessary to confirm a girl’s date of birth from school records, according to the Delhi High Court.

The Delhi High Court has stated that it is not necessary to judicially examine a girl’s date of birth by checking school records to ensure that she is not a juvenile before beginning a sexual contact with her. When granting bail to a man accused under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses Act (POSCO Act), a single judge bench of Justice Jasmeet Singh in the mater of Hanzla Iqbal v. State, stated that the mere fact that the woman had an Aadhar Card proving she was an adult at the time of the sexual relationship would be sufficient for the accused to believe he was not engaging in a physical relationship with a minor.

The bench believed that there was considerably more going on in the matter at hand than first seemed. The Court observed.

“As per the prosecutrix’s own showing and as the case stated in the FIR, she has had relationship with the applicant from 2019. If the applicant had blackmailed the prosecutrix, there was nothing preventing her from approaching the police at an earlier stage,” 

In terms of birthdate, the bench noted that the prosecutrix was expected to be a major on the claimed occurrence date because the Aadhar card listed her date of birth as January 1, 1998. Therefore, no POCSO claim is supported. The Court did emphasise, however, that a trial is the only way to establish the applicant’s claim that the Aadhar card was forced onto her. The Court also saw transfers of sizable sums of money in the prosecutrix’s favour, hinting that it may be a honey trap.

The Commissioner of Police was instructed to conduct a thorough inquiry into the prosecutrix and determine whether the prosecutrix had filed a similar FIR against any other individuals in Delhi.