If one violates a young virgin girl and is caught while doing this, he has to pay a fine of 50 silver shekels (equal to an average dowry, or approximately $25,000). He is also liable to regular damages for assault: pain, humiliation, and depreciation. Furthermore, if she and her father desire, he must marry her and may never divorce her against her will.
This law applies primarily to a young girl who just became a bat mitzvah (12 years) and thus an adult but has not become a more grown-up (12 ½ years). The penalty still applies if he rapes a girl who is a mamzer and whom he is prohibited from marrying. It also applies to all who were converted or ransomed before they were three years of age.
Similarly, if one violates girls prohibited to him on pain of karet (being cut off from the people) – such as his sister, brother's wife divorced before chuppah, or a niddah – the penalty is the same.
Art: Young Girl Reading By Hendricus Jacobus Burger
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