“You wait, little girl, on an empty stage
For fate to turn the light on
Your life, little girl, is an empty page
That men will want to write on

You are sixteen going on seventeen
Baby, it’s time to think
Better beware, be canny and careful
Baby, you’re on the brink.”

Oscar Hammerstein II, The Sound of Music, 1959

“In cross-examination , she categorically stated, she was well aware of the meaning of the word ‘intercourse’ and that it was painful and she felt like screaming when the Accused had intercourse with her for the first time. The statements of the Prosecutrix are highly inconsistent. The statement made by her to the Police has been categorically denied and the statements made by her before Court seem to be tutored. At the time when her statement was recorded as PW1, the age of the Prosecutrix was about 17 years and it is quite natural for a girl of that age to know as to what is ‘sexual intercourse’.”

– Hon’ble Justice P. Ghose, State of Karnataka v. F. Nataraj, [Criminal Appeal No. 1439 of 2011].