The Supreme Court of India on March 18 directed all courts in the country to avoid commenting on dressing, behaviour, past conduct, morals or chastity of women while deciding on cases related to sexual offences. SC also asked courts or desist from suggesting any “compromise formula” in such cases, according to a report by the Hindustan Times.
Here are the directions and what prompted them:
> The top court said that “entrenched paternalistic and misogynistic attitudes that are regrettably reflected at times in judicial orders’’ must be forbidden.
> A number of directives were issued, along with a checklist for judges, to eliminate social bias from entering judicial reasoning.
> A bench of Justices AM Khanwilkar and S Ravindra Bhat set aside a July 2020 order of the Madhya Pradesh High Court which asked a molestation case accused to get a rakhi tied on his wrist by the complainant as a condition for bail. According to the High Court’s order, the accused was to also give Rs 11,000 to the victim as “usually offered by brothers to sisters” on Rakhi. The apex court also said the said High Court order transformed a molester into a brother by judicial mandate and, thus, reflected adversely on the justice delivery system.
> “This is wholly unacceptable and has the effect of diluting and eroding the offence of sexual harassment. The law does not permit or countenance such conduct, where the survivor can potentially be traumatised many times over or be led into some kind of non-voluntary acceptance or be compelled by the circumstances to accept and condone behaviour that is a serious offence,” the SC bench said.
> According to the Hindustan Times news report, Justice Bhat also handed out a checklist for judges on what must be avoided during court proceedings and should never become part of an order.
> Justice Bhat reportedly said that use of reasoning or language which diminishes the offence and trivialises the survivor must be avoided under all circumstances.