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‘Be careful’: Supreme Court slams Allahabad high court judge’s observations in rape case
The Supreme Court criticized Allahabad high court judges for remarks suggesting rape victims invite trouble, urging caution in handling sexual crime cases.
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The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked high court judges to be careful in making observations in cases involving sexual crimes against women as it took strong objection to a recent remark by an Allahabad high court judge who told a rape survivor that she “herself invited trouble” while granting bail to the accused.
A bench comprising justices BR Gavai and Augustine George Masih remarked: “What is this discussion that ‘she herself invited trouble’. One has to be careful when saying such things especially on this side.”
The court was referring to observations made by justice Sanjay Kumar Singh in a March 11 order, where he granted bail to a man accused of raping a woman, who had who had accompanied the accused at a bar in South Delhi, observing that the victim herself invited trouble.
The top court was hearing a suo motu case against a March 17 order of another Allahabad high court judge, who passed controversial remarks that acts like grabbing breasts or breaking the string of pyjamas do not constitute an attempt to rape, and the prosecution must go beyond this “stage of preparation” to prove its charges against a rape accused.
The top court stayed the order on March 26 and kept the matter for hearing to consider suggestions of attorney general R Venkatramani and solicitor general Tushar Mehta.
Mehta agreed with the bench and said that courts have to think about how their orders and observations are perceived by the public. He informed the court that the suo motu case cannot be heard as all the parties in the matter have not been served notices for appearance.
The court adjourned the hearing by four weeks.
