Shillong (Meghalaya) , May 9: The Meghalaya High Court has quashed a 2021 POCSO case after the complainant married the accused and told the court that sending him to jail would cause “great injustice” to her and their three children. Chief Justice Revati Mohite Dere on May 7 allowed the joint petition filed by Biangbor Rynjah alias Eric and Smti XYZ, setting aside FIR No. 15(2) of 2021 at Madanrting Police Station and the case pending before the Special Judge (POCSO), Shillong.
The woman was a minor when the relationship began while the man was a major. After she became pregnant, the village head lodged the FIR under Sections 4, 6 and 17 of the POCSO Act, 2012. On attaining majority, the two married as per Khasi customs and solemnized their marriage in April 2025 at Good Shepherd Parish, Jongksha. They now have three children aged four years, two years four months, and four months.
Reports from the Secretary, High Court Legal Services Committee, and the Officer-in-Charge, Madanrting Police Station, confirmed the couple speaks only Khasi and lives in a joint family in the woman’s mother’s house. The husband works as a carpenter earning about Rs 9,000 a month and supports the family. The woman told the Committee she entered the relationship “voluntarily, out of love,” is “happily living” with him, and has no complaint. She said neither she nor her children received any government compensation or benefits in connection with the case, and the litigation had caused financial hardship. She expressed interest in resuming studies and learning tailoring.
Relying on its April 10, 2026 judgment in Shri Shalenbor Wahlang vrs .State of Meghalaya, the Court said the “ground realities in the State of Meghalaya cannot be ignored” and noted high incidents of adolescent consensual relationships that are socially recognized. It observed that while a POCSO offence is one against society, “the administration or enforcement of the law cannot be divorced from lived realities” and justice must be “tempered with fairness, compassion and empathy.” The order added that where the parties are married or living together with children, “sending the boy to jail would not serve the cause of justice, rather it would cause great injustice to the victim and the child.”
Holding that continuing the case was not in the interest of the woman and children, the Court directed that they be extended benefits under 15 State and Central schemes, including the Nirbhaya Fund, Mission Vatsalya, Beti Bachao Beti Padhao, Ayushman Bharat-PM-JAY, and the Meghalaya Victim Compensation Scheme, 2022. The District Child Protection Officer and Secretary, DLSA, East Khasi Hills, were asked to register the woman under the ‘back to school’ scheme within eight weeks. A compliance report on benefits extended is to be filed by July 3, 2026.
