New Delhi [India], April 15 (ANI): The Supreme Court on Tuesday criticised the Allahabad High Court for its remark that the rape victim herself invited trouble and cautioned judges against making inappropriate observations.
A bench of Justices BR Gavai and Augustine George Masih took exception to a recent observation by the High Court that the woman herself had invited trouble and was responsible for the alleged rape committed against her.
The bench said that while the judge’s discretion regarding bail is dependent on the facts of each case, such unwarranted observations against the complainant should be avoided.
“There is another order now by another judge. Yes, bail can be granted, but what is this discussion that she herself invited trouble, etc. One has to be careful when saying such things especially on this side (judges),” Justice Gavai said.
To this, the Solicitor General of India, Tushar Mehta, said that complete justice should not only be done but also seen to be done.
“How a common person perceives such orders needs to be kept in mind,” he added.
The Allahabad high court has recently granted bail to a rape accused while observing that the complainant “herself invited trouble” by agreeing to go to the accused house after getting drunk.
The apex court made the observation while hearing a suo motu case initiated by it in relation to another case in which the Allahabad High Court had held that acts of grabbing a child victim’s breasts, breaking the string of her pyjama and attempting to drag her beneath a culvert do not constitute the offence of rape or attempt to rape. The bench adjourned the hearing of the suo moto case for four weeks.
On March 26, the court said that the judgment showed a “lack of sensitivity” on the part of the Allahabad High Court judge and stayed the ruling.
The top court had said it is a “serious matter” and “total insensitiveness” on the part of the judge who passed the judgment. The apex court had taken a suo motu cognizance on the issue after senior advocate Shobha Gupta through organisation ‘We the Women of India’ brought to notice of the Chief Justice of India the March 17 order of the Allahabad High Court.
The apex court had also issued a notice to the Centre, the state of Uttar Pradesh, and the parties in the matter before the High Court. It had sought the assistance of Attorney General of India R Venkataramani and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta in the matter.
The mother of the minor victim also approached the apex court against the High Court order.
In its March 17 order, Justice Ram Manohar Narayan Mishra of the High Court had modified the charges against the two accused, who were originally summoned to stand trial under Section 376 IPC (rape) and Section 18 (punishment for attempt to commit an offence) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
The High Court, however, directed that the accused be tried under the lesser charge of Section 354-B IPC (assault or use of criminal force with intent to disrobe), along with Sections 9/10 of the POCSO Act (aggravated sexual assault).
The High Court order stated, “In the present case, the allegation against accused Pawan and Akash is that they grabbed the breasts of the victim and Akash tried to bring down lower garment of the victim and for that purpose they had broken string of her lower garments and tried to drag her beneath the culvert, but due to intervention of witnesses they left the victim and fled away from the place of incident. This fact is not sufficient to draw an inference that the accused persons had determined to commit rape on victim as apart from these facts no other act is attributed to them to further their alleged desire to commit rape on the victim.” (ANI)
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