India, Feb. 20 -- The Bombay High Court on Tuesday granted bail to a 23-year-old accused of sexually abusing his friend's sister, who was 13 at the time, on the grounds that the two were in a consensual relationship when he was 19. A single-judge bench of Justice Milind Jadhav granted bail to the young adult to protect him from "the regressive influences of the jail environment."

As per the First Information Report (FIR) registered with the Nerul Police Station on August 24, 2021, the accused and the victim knew each other for one and half years before February 8, 2021, the date on which the first incident of alleged sexual abuse took place.

The court observed that a reading of the FIR showed that the two were in a consensual relationsh...