The Supreme Court has taken suo motu cognisance of the Allahabad High Court's controversial ruling on rape and attempt to rape charges.
The Supreme Court has taken suo motu cognisance of a controversial ruling by the Allahabad High Court, which held that the act of grabbing a woman’s breast and pulling the string of her pyjama does not constitute the offence of rape. A bench comprising Justices B R Gavai and Augustine George Masih is scheduled to hear the matter on Wednesday.
The Allahabad High Court’s ruling, delivered on 17 March by Justice Ram Manohar Narayan Mishra, had stirred widespread criticism among legal experts. Many expressed concerns that such observations could undermine public confidence in the judiciary and called for restraint in judicial pronouncements regarding sensitive matters like sexual offences, news agency PTI reported.
The case pertains to an incident on 10 November 2021, when a woman and her 14-year-old daughter were returning from her sister-in-law’s house in a village in Uttar Pradesh. According to the complaint, three men from the village—Pawan, Akash, and Ashok—encountered them on a muddy road. When the woman informed them that she was returning from her sister-in-law’s house, Pawan offered a lift to her daughter, assuring her that he would drop the girl home.
Trusting his assurance, the woman allowed her daughter to accompany Pawan on his motorcycle. However, the accused stopped the vehicle en route and allegedly began sexually assaulting the girl. As per the victim’s statement, Akash attempted to drag her beneath a culvert and pulled the string of her pyjama. The assault was interrupted when two passersby arrived at the scene upon hearing the girl’s cries. The accused allegedly brandished a country-made pistol to threaten them before fleeing.
Allahabad High Court’s Ruling On Rape Charge
Following the victim’s statement and witness testimonies, a Special Judge in Kasganj summoned the accused under Section 376 (rape) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), among other charges. However, the Allahabad High Court, in its ruling on the revision petition filed by the accused, found that the allegations did not meet the legal threshold for rape or attempted rape.
“The allegation against accused Pawan and Akash is that they grabbed the breasts of the victim and Akash tried to bring down the lower garment of the victim. They had broken the string of her lower garment and attempted to drag her beneath the culvert, but due to the intervention of witnesses, they left the victim and fled,” the high court observed, as quoted by PTI.
The court further noted that these facts alone were insufficient to establish an intention to commit rape. “Apart from these acts, no other evidence is attributed to the accused that suggests a furtherance of their alleged desire to commit rape on the victim,” the ruling stated.
Emphasising the legal distinction between preparation and an actual attempt to commit an offence, the court remarked, “To bring out a charge of attempt to rape, the prosecution must establish that it had gone beyond the stage of preparation.”
Instead, the high court ruled that the accused should be charged under Section 354B of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, which pertains to assault or use of criminal force against a woman with intent to disrobe or compel her to be naked, as well as under Section 9 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, which deals with aggravated sexual assault on a minor.
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