The Supreme Court on Wednesday (26th March) took a suo motu congnizance of the controversial Allahabad High Court order which said that grabbing the breasts of a minor girl, breaking her pyjama drawstring and trying to drag her beneath a culvert is not an attempt to rape.
A bench of Justices BR Gavai and Augustine George Masih, which will be examining the High Court order, has expressed strong disagreement with the High Court’s opinion. Commenting on the High Court order, the Apex Court said, “We are at pains to say that some of the observations made in the impugned judgment, particularly paras 21, 24 and 26, depict a total lack of sensitivity on the part of the author of the judgment”.
On 17th March, Justice Ram Manohar Narayan Mishra of the Allahabad High Court passed an order altering the charges against the accused who were originally being tried under section 376 of the BNS and section 18 of the POCSO Act. The High Court directed the accused to be tried under 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) observing that the accts committed by the accused could not be construed as attempt to rape.
Earlier on 24th March, a bench of Justices Bela Trivedi and Prasanna B Varale had declined to entertain a PIL filed against the Allahabad High Court order.
