Issue of Honey Traps, Age Verification in consensual physical relationships and impact of gaps in FIR: Judgment in Iqbal Case of Delhi HC

Safety of young generation is often compromised in the gimmick of accused appearing as a friend leading to a consensual sex either on pretext of a false promise of marriage or momentary pleasures turning into a honey traps. Recently, a case Hanzla Iqbal v. The State & Anr. judgment pronounced by Justice Jasmeet Singh of the Delhi High Court highlights the issue of honey trap, impact of the gaps in the FIR and relevance of age of victim for consensual sex. The accused in this called the victim to a hotel and established a physical relationship with her. He then filmed the same and later, blackmailed the prosecutrix to establish physical relationships with different persons, or else he will release the video.  An FIR registered against the applicant under Section 376 read with Section 34 of the IPC and Section 6 of the POCSO Act.  The applicant approached the Delhi High Court to seek bail in the same FIR. However, the victim has three different dates of birth and therefore, the applicability of the POCSO Act to the present case is disputed. The present case went in favor of the accused for the unexplained gaps in FIR, however court took notice of the important issue of Honey Trap. The observation of the court with regard to relevance of age in consensual relationships became an important headlines on various news channels. The article analysis the judgment on these relevant issue.

Unexplained delay in lodging FIR

Present case highlights the gaps in the FIR were unexplained for court to rule against the victim. There was nothing that prevented her from filing FIR in the said periods starting from cause of action and the prosecutrix has not been able to furnish a reasonable explanation for the inordinate delay in lodging of FIR.  FIR means ‘First Information Report.’ FIR is the first document prepared in criminal proceedings that places on record the victim’s side of the story on which police authorities base and start their investigations. Hence, an FIR plays a vital role in criminal proceedings. Lawyer for filing FIR can be very much useful when you are looking to file First Information Report (FIR). FIR can be filed by the aggrieved person himself or any other representative aware of the complete incident of the alleged offence. It is also a true fact that the victim will not wait to hire a lawyer to fix the coherent FIR to prevent the gaps from appearing to prevent defeating the case. However, it may be advisable or care to be taken to explain every aspect of the case fully.

A case of Honey Trap

The term “honey trap” popularized by John le Carré in his novel, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. During the Cold War, intelligence agencies regularly deployed women to entrap senior military officers, politicians, and businessmen to secure valuable secrets. The Court in this case referred to one Bail App. 2813/2020 titled ‘Kapil Gupta vs. State’ wherein it had noticed that there are cases where innocent persons are being honey trapped and huge amounts of money are being extracted from them. This Court had directed Commissioner of Police to personally investigate the matter and investigate such cases of honey trapping.

Issue of verification of age in Consensual Relationships

The offences of rape are natural outcomes of failures of consensual relationships. With society getting becoming more open to liberal thought process, the interpretation of the the Court is also growing as per contemporary changes. In this case, the court observed that while establishing a consensual physical relationship, there is no need to scrutinize the date of birth of another person by Aadhar card, or PAN card, or verify the same from the school record. The newspapers have reported:

“In my opinion the intention of POCSO was to protect children below the age of 18 years from sexual exploitation. It was never meant to criminalise consensual romantic relationships between young adults,” Justice Jasmeet Singh mentioned while granting bail to an accused in POCSO cum rape case.

With living in relationships and dating sites becoming common these days and interpretation of law to include consensual relationships on different tangent from offences related to forced relationship like rapes, the importance of educating the young minds to understand the friendly traps is becoming more relevant. This case highlights the issue in society of honey trap, which has not only dimension of luring young minds but has larger angle of even national security causing the victims to do forceful actions. The accused in this case was granted bail due to gaps in the FIR but the court went into the issue of honey traps to be given a due investigation. Both law and education on issue of honey traps needs proper attention to safeguard the vulnerable youth.