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The boy should not be arrested if two young persons go on a date, said Uttarakhand High Court, while hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) petition filed pertaining to gender discrimination in teenage dating.
The observations were made by a Bench of Chief Justice Ritu Bahari and Justice Rakesh Thapliyal, which added that the State could examine the issue whether recording of the statement under Section 161 of Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) would be sufficient not to arrest the boy, who had gone on a date with the girl.
To mention, CrPC has now been replaced with the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita.
“….at the most, he can be called for giving him advice not to indulge in these things, but he should not be arrested. The State can examine this issue and issue a general direction for the Police department,” the High Court observed in a July 1 order.
In the PIL, advocate Manish Bhandari sought directions to the State to examine the issue of minors getting arrested for dating, mostly on the complaints filed by girl’s parents.
“In cases where two young persons, one is girl and one is boy, are dating each other, they may be between the age of 16 to 18 years, and on the complaint made by the parents of the girl, the boy should not be arrested if no offence under Sections 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences [POCSO] Act is made out,” the PIL reads.
The petitioner says he was forced to file the PIL as in most cases of teenage dating, the girls are considered as victims while boys are treated as perpetrators.