Supreme Court Criticises Patna HC Order On Rape Attempt Interpretation

The Supreme Court on Tuesday criticised observations made by the Patna High Court in a sexual assault case, where the High Court had held that acts such as attempting to remove a woman’s clothing and pressing her chest did not amount to an attempt to rape. The apex court said it would issue a detailed order addressing the remarks and expressed concern over the approach adopted while dealing with sexual offence cases.

A bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, along with Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V. Mohan, made the observations while hearing a suo motu case examining judicial approaches in matters involving sexual offences. The bench said that judgments dealing with such sensitive issues require careful consideration and criticised what it described as a lack of adequate research before delivering such orders.

The Supreme Court’s remarks came after Senior Advocate Shobha Gupta brought the Patna High Court judgment to the bench’s attention. The High Court had set aside the conviction of a man accused in a 2008 case from Amarpur, Bihar, observing that the prosecution had failed to establish the offence of attempt to rape. The High Court had also made observations regarding allegations of physical assault and attempts to remove the survivor’s clothing.

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According to the prosecution case, the survivor had visited a photography studio with her father. After taking her photograph, the studio owner allegedly asked her father to wait outside, locked the door, and attempted to sexually assault her. The survivor’s cries reportedly alerted her father, who entered the room, following which the accused allegedly fled.

A trial court had convicted the accused for attempt to rape and wrongful confinement. However, the Patna High Court, while hearing the appeal, overturned the conviction for attempt to rape, stating that the evidence did not establish the required elements of the offence. The Supreme Court expressed concern over the interpretation of sexual offence laws reflected in the judgment.

During the hearing, the Supreme Court also approved a report prepared by the National Judicial Academy’s Expert Committee containing guidelines on judicial sensitivity in sexual offence cases. The court directed all courts to follow the handbook and instructed states to ensure that police stations also follow the guidelines while registering FIRs and preparing chargesheets in sexual offence matters. The apex court said a detailed reasoned judgment would be issued on the issue.

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