Varadarajan v. State of Madras

Supreme Court of India1964 INSC 185; MANU/SC/0081/1964; AIR 1965 SC 942

Bench: J. P.B. Gajendragadkar, J. K.N. Wanchoo, J. M. Hidayatullah

The Supreme Court held that where a minor girl acts on her own volition and independently approaches or accompanies a man without any act of inducement, taking, or enticing by him, the man cannot be convicted under Section 363/366 IPC for "kidnapping." For the offence to be constituted, the accused must have "taken or enticed" the minor away. If the minor was the initiator and the accused was merely passive, he cannot be held for kidnapping. However, the Court added that this does not mean the accused is without culpability — he may still be guilty of other offences if he had sexual relations with the minor. [NOTE: This case is often misread as permitting consensual elopement with minors; POCSO (post-2012) has overridden this reasoning for sexual offences.]