Lucknow,  The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court has granted bail to a rape accused booked under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012, on condition that he will marry the girl within 15 days of release, and will also give all rights to her and her child, born after the alleged rape, as wife and daughter respectively.

The court also ordered the accused to get the marriage registered within a month from the date of marriage. The child is around one month old.

The incident took place in Lakhimpur Kheri district in March this year. The accused has been in jail since April 10, 2022.

A single judge bench of Justice Dinesh Kumar Singh observed, "Soon after the accused applicant comes out of jail on bail, he will perform the marriage within 15 days from the date of release with the prosecutrix (victim)."

The court took into consideration the stand of the girl and her father in the court that they had no objection if the accused was granted bail provided, he married the victim.

The accused was booked under several sections of the IPC and POCSO Act on the charges that he had allured the girl to elope with him in March 2022 when the girl was just 17-years-old.

The accused allured the girl on the intervening night of March 22-23, 2022. Thereafter, she gave birth to a girl child.