The Supreme Court of India has set aside a controversial judgement of the Allahabad high court which had held that grabbing of breasts of a minor girl and loosening the string of her pyjama did not amount to an attempt to rape.
According to the First Information Report ( FIR ) the incident took place when the minor girl was returning home . The complaint filed by the victim’s mother stated that the two accused persons allegedly grabbed the minor’s breasts , loosened and broke the string of her pyjama and attempted to drag her beneath a culvert.
Based on the allegations the court summoned the accused under Section 376 of the Indian Penal Code ( IPC ) which deals with rape read with section 18 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act ( POSCO Act ).
The accused approached the Allahabad High Court challenging the trial. The high court held that the acts alleged in the FIR amounted only to preparation and not an attempt to commit rape. The court observed that there were no sufficient material to show that the accused had gone beyond preparation to actually attempt the offence of rape. It set aside the rape charges and directed the accused to be tried with lesser offences.
“ The facts alleged being so , we cannot agree with the finding of the High Court that the allegations only amount to preparations but not an attempt towards the commission of the offence of rape . The attempt made by the accused persons appears clearly and inevitably leads us to conclude that , prima facie, a case for invoking the provisions of attempt to commit rape has been made out by the complainant and the prosecution . The impugned judgement, thus is liable to be set aside on account of the settled principles of criminal jurisprudence.” The court announced
A 3 judge bench comprisingf Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, Justice Joymala Bagchi and Justice NV Anjaria delivered the judgement in a suo motu case taken last year over the High Court’s problematic judgement.
With the Supremer Court’s order the criminal proceedings will now continue before the trial court on the original charges related to attempted rape under the IPC and the POSCO Act.
