Minor raped in Bhatkal Taluka; accused on run

Bhatkal 26 August 2018: (Bhatkallys News Bureau) Murdeshwar Police on Saturday registered a case against Santhosh Marathi a resident of Uttarkoppa village of Bhatkal Taluka for raping a 16 year old minor girl after receiving complaints from the parents of the victim. According to the reports, accused Santhosh, who was a friend of the brother of the victim has had physical relations with the victim with consent, but lately the victim began to show symptoms of pregnancy following which the family went ahead with the medical test which confirmed the pregnancy of the victim. Upon inquiring the victim about the same, the victim opened up about the physical relations with Santhosh who often used to visit her home to meet her brother. The family then went ahead and lodged a complaint against Santhosh, Murdeshwar police registered a case but the accused by then had escaped, and is reportedly still on run. Murdeshwar police is further investigating the case and a manhunt for Santhosh has been launched with Murdeshwar PSI Nagavva Patil leading the investigations. Insight on the law: With the victim being only 16 year old, consensual physical relations are considered  statutory rapes in India. Statutory Rape is defined in Section 375 of Indian Penal Code, (amendment of 2013) which states that “any male, who does an intercourse with any female who is below the age of 18, with or without her consent will be constituting a Statutory Rape”. This offence is created to save the exploitation of the minor by the adults. In this kind of rape, the adult will get punished if he had any kind of physical interaction with a woman/girl, in the age of  18 or below, no matter if she has voluntarily participated in the act or not. The consent of the minor is immaterial and will not be considered any defence to the accused. (Bhatkallys News Bureau/ Ismail Zaorez)