NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday pulled up the Patna High Court for holding that attempting to remove a woman’s salwar and pressing her chest did not amount to an attempt to rape, with the Chief Justice of India expressing concern over the “lack of thorough research” before such judgments are delivered.
The issue was raised before a bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V. Mohan during the hearing of the apex court’s suo motu case examining judicial approaches in sexual offence cases.
Senior Advocate Shobha Gupta drew the bench’s attention to a recent Patna High Court judgment, which held that allegations of attempting to remove a woman’s salwar and physically molesting her by pressing her chest did not constitute the offence of attempt to rape.
The matter was brought up while the Supreme Court was hearing its suo motu proceedings initiated over an Allahabad High Court judgment that had observed that grabbing the breasts of a minor girl, breaking the string of her pyjama and attempting to drag her beneath a culvert would not amount to an offence of attempt to rape.
