India, April 26 -- The Bombay High Court recently upheld the conviction of a young man for kidnapping a 13-year-old girl despite the girl agreeing to elope with him, holding that consent of a minor girl was immaterial. The division bench of justices Sandipkumar More and Abasaheb Shinde, however, cleared Amol Landge of the charge of raping the girl after medical evidence negated the charge completely.

Landge was aged 19 years when he eloped with his 13-year-old girlfriend on October 24, 2019 from their village, Kalamnuri in Hingoli district. After the girl's family reported her missing, police traced the duo to Pimpalgaon and brought them to Kalamnuri. Based on the girl's statement that Landge had enticed her away and had penetrative inte...