Shillong (Meghalaya), April 23: The Meghalaya High Court has heard a plea to quash a 2021 POCSO case after the accused and the alleged victim married and submitted proof of their union, telling the court they have a five-year-old daughter from a relationship they say was consensual since 2019.
Chief Justice Revati Mohite Dere took up Criminal Petition No. 44 of 2025 for final disposal Tuesday. Petitioners Phrangbatnarn Kharkongor, 23 at the relevant time, and “X”, then 17 years and 8 months, seek quashing of FIR No. 47(05) of 2021 and Special POCSO Case No. 101 of 2021 pending in Shillong. The FIR was lodged by “X’s” mother on May 1, 2021, after learning of the pregnancy.
In key developments, “X” stated in her Sections 161 and 164 CrPC statements that the physical relationship was free and voluntary. The couple married on April 3, 2025 before the Marriage Registrar, Shillong, and annexed the certificate at page 75 of the petition. Their daughter was born on May 17, 2021, and is now five.
The Court had directed the Secretary, High Court Legal Services Committee, to verify if “X’s” consent was informed and if she wanted education or vocational training. The report was filed on April 16, 2026.
The plea cites the Court’s March 12, 2026 ruling in Criminal Petition No. 92 of 2023, where it said Meghalaya’s “ground realities” of adolescent consensual relationships and the state’s matrilineal system “cannot be ignored,” noting such cases of married couples with children are “far too many.”
Chief Justice Dere delivered judgment orally on Wednesday, April 22, 2026.
