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The Supreme Court is reviewing on its own initiative the controversial ruling where the Allahabad High Court held that merely ‘grabbing a breast and pulling the string of a pyjama’ did not amount to rape. A two-judge bench consisting of justices BR Gavai and Augustine George Masih is scheduled to hear it on March 26th. On March 24th, justices Bela Trivedi and Prasanna B Varale of the Supreme Court did not take up a public interest litigation (PIL) petition challenging the ruling of the Allahabad High Court.
The Allahabad High Court, in a case under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act relating to alleged rape of a minor girl, had notionally held that the acts of ‘grabbing’ the breasts of the victim and ‘snapping’ her pyjama strings are neither rape nor attempted rape but serious sexual assault. Justice Ram Manohar Narayan Mishra in his deliberations observed from the facts in this case of an 11-year-old girl that it was an assault on the dignity of a woman, albeit not an attempt to rape.
Justice Ram Manohar Narayan Mishra granted the order on a revision petition brought by two individuals who contested the decision of the special judge of Kasganj, who had issued them summonses under Section 376 of IPC along with other sections of the law.
In the court notes however, they made the differentiation of the “preparation stage”, and an “actual attempt”.
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