Minister slams High Court's 'grabbing breasts isn't rape' ruling

Union Minister for Women and Child Development Annapurna Devi on Friday termed the Allahabad High Court’s ruling “wrong", wherein it had said that mere grabbing of the breast and breaking of the string of a ‘pyjami‘ do not amount to offence of rape.

The court had said that such offence, rather, falls under the ambit of assault or use of criminal force against any woman with the intent to disrobe or compel her to be naked.

Speaking to reporters today, the Union Minister said that she does not support the ruling and that the court should reconsider the decision. “I don’t support this decision, and the court should also re-consider this decision because it will have an adverse impact on a civil society," she said.

Also commenting on the ruling, Rajya Sabha MP Swati Maliwal said, “This statement is very insensitive and it is very dangerous for the society. The Supreme Court should intervene in this matter."

The order was passed by Justice Ram Manohar Narayan Mishra on a revision petition filed by two persons who moved the court, challenging the order of a Special Judge of Kasganj by which the court had summoned them under Section 376 of IPC apart from other sections.

After going through the materials on record, the High Court found, “In the present case, 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 and for that purpose, they had broken string of her lower garments and tried to drag her beneath the culvert, but due to intervention of witnesses they left the victim and fled away from the place of incident.

“This fact is not sufficient to draw an inference that the accused persons had determined to commit rape on the victim as apart from these facts no other act is attributed to them to further their alleged desire to commit rape on the victim," the court said.

The court in its order on March 17 further observed that the specific allegation against accused Akash is that he tried to drag the victim beneath the culvert and broke the string of her pyjami. It is also not stated by the witnesses that the victim got naked or undressed due to this act of the accused, the court said. “There is no allegation that the accused tried to commit penetrative sexual assault against the victim," the court said.