MUMBAI: In a rape case that has taken 30 years to reach a conclusion, a now 46-year-old man has been exonerated after a sessions court found that he had consensual sex as a 16-year-old with the then 17-year-old woman. The court found that as per IPC Section 376 (rape) and in its applicability in 1988, consensual sex with a girl above 16 was excluded from the definition of rape.“By no stretch of imagination can it be said that the accused of age 16 years enticed the girl of age 17 years from the legal custody of her parents and committed rape on her. No purpose would be served in committing the case before the juvenile board on the grounds of age of the accused,” the sessions court said while allowing his plea for discharge.The man who has since moved to Gujarat , had to return to the city to face legal proceedings. The accused had been booked on charges of rape, kidnapping and kidnapping with the intention to compel a woman to marry or have sexual relations.The complaint was lodged by the girl’s father in 1988 after he found out about their relationship. The girl’s parents used to go to work and it was alleged that on January 23, 1988, when the father got home, no the family member was present. He began to look for his daughter. It was alleged later he got to know that the accused, who was their neighbour earlier, may have enticed her.The father then lodged a police report against the accused. He informed the cops that on January 30, 1988, while looking for his daughter, he went to the house of the accused in Andheri and found her there. The woman, however, told the cops that on January 23, 1988, at 7pm she went with the accused. He then talked to her “sweetly” and took her to his native place in Gujarat. She said they had consensual sex.