Recently, a single-judge bench of the Kerala High Court comprising Justice Bechu Kurain Thomas has ruled that a marriage between Muslims under personal law is not excluded from the sweep of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

“The petitioner is arrested for the offences under the POCSO Act as well as the IPC. The POCSO Act is a special statute enacted specifically for the protection of children from sexual offences. Sexual exploitation of every nature against a child is treated as an offence. Marriage is not excluded from the sweep of the statute,” ruled the court,” the bench ruled.

“With respect to the learned Judges, I am unable to agree to the proposition laid down in those decisions that an offence under the POCSO Act will not get attracted against a Muslim marrying a minor,” Justice Thomas said while disagreeing with the previous judgments of the Punjab and Haryana High Court and Karnataka High Court.

A 31-year-old Muslim man named Khaledur Rehman kidnapped and committed repeated penetrative sexual assaults on a minor from West Bengal. Thereafter, the victim became pregnant. His claim was that he had validly married the girl in March 2021 under the Muslim personal law applicable to them. An FIR was registered by Thiruvalla Police Station on the intimation received from a doctor of a health centre where the victim had gone for a checkup on her pregnancy.