The Gujarat High Court has quashed an FIR registered against Paragji Bharatji Detroja in connection with allegations under Sections 363 and 366 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Section 18 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. Justice P. M. Raval passed the order on October 7, 2026.
The FIR was registered at Vidyanagar Police Station, Anand, on June 23, 2017. The complainant stated that his daughter had gone to college on June 22 but did not return home. On making inquiries, he found that the petitioner was also absent from his residence. He further noticed that his daughter’s certificates were missing and subsequently lodged the complaint.
The petitioner submitted that he had been falsely implicated and that he and the complainant’s daughter were in a love affair. He argued that she had voluntarily left her parental home and later married him after attaining the age of marriage on September 6, 2017. The record also contained an affidavit from the girl supporting the petitioner and stating that she had left because her father was pressuring her to marry another person.
After examining the FIR, the affidavit and the circumstances, the Court relied on the Supreme Court’s decision in S. Varadarajan v. State of Madras and observed:
“This is a case of adolescence love, wherein the victim herself voluntarily left the house of the parents (complainant father) without there being any threat, coercion or allurement and also considering the fact that the victim had a love affair with the present petitioner and, as per the affidavit, the father of the victim was pressuring her to get married to some other person, she left the house of the father voluntarily. Under such circumstances, no case under Sections 363 and 366 of the IPC and Section 18 of the POCSO Act is made out.”
The Court held that, in these circumstances, the ingredients of the alleged offences were not made out against the petitioner.
The High Court allowed the petition and quashed the FIR, along with all consequential proceedings arising from it, insofar as the present petitioner was concerned. The Rule was made absolute to that extent.
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Case Title: Paragji Bharatji Detroja v. State of Gujarat & Anr.
Case Number: R/Criminal Misc. Application (For Quashing & Set Aside FIR/Order) No. 23843 of 2017
