The Supreme Court on Tuesday (14th July) pulled up the Patna High Court for a recent verdict wherein the High Court held that removing a woman’s salwar and pressing her chest is not sufficient to prove an attempt to rape. A Bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V. Mohana took note of the High Court ruling after senior advocates Shobha Gupta and H.S. Phoolka drew the court’s attention to it.
Justice Mohana questioned whether the top court’s judgment in the Allahabad High Court matter, which directed sensitisation of judges on the issue, was cited in the Patna High Court. Notably, the Supreme Court had earlier taken suo motu cognisance of the Allahabad High Court’s March 17, 2025, order that had held that pulling a girl’s pyjama string and grabbing her breasts did not amount to an attempt to rape. The High Court order was set aside by the Supreme Court.
While the case was being dealt with by the Supreme Court, a report was prepared by the National Judicial Academy Committee on judicial sensitivity in sexual offence cases. In the context of the Patna High Court verdict, the Supreme Court directed that the report be uploaded on the websites of the Supreme Court and all high courts.
Meanwhile, CJI Surya Kant stressed that there is a duty cast on judges as well to do some research. “The staff is doing nothing,” he said, directing all the courts and police stations to follow the handbook. “It is directed that all courts shall follow the expression contained in the handbook. States to issue instructions to all police stations to follow the handbooks while registering FIR and filing a chargesheet. We will upload a reasoned judgment also,” the CJI said. Senior lawyer Shobha Gupta highlighted before the Supreme Court that decisions like the Patna High Court one have been happening frequently.
On 9th July, a Bench of Justice Purnendu Singh of Patna High Court set aside the conviction of a photo studio owner accused of attempting to rape a woman in 2008. The Court said that acts of confining the victim, physically molesting her by pressing her chest, and attempting to remove her lower clothing (salwar) constitute the offence of outraging her modesty, but do not attract the charge of attempted rape.
The High Court highlighted procedural lapses in the case and said that since there was no evidence of penetration, the offence of attempted rape was not made out against the accused. “In the absence of any evidence of penetration, even to the slightest extent, or any overt act unequivocally constituting an attempt to commit rape, the ingredients of Section 375 IPC, and consequently Section 376 read with Section 511 IPC, are not attracted in the absence of any medical corroboration,” the High Court stated.
