The Supreme Court on Wednesday held that there can be no compromise in a rape case in the name of promising wedlock.
An apex court bench of Justice Dipak Misra and Justice Prafulla C Pant said that any compromise promising wedlock between a rape accused and the victim compromises the dignity of the woman.
The court said that such a compromise lacks sensitivity on the part of those promoting a settlement.
Holding that courts cannot take a soft approach on the issue, the bench described as a spectacular error and lack of sensitivity on the part of the Madhya Pradesh high court which had ordered mediation and marriage between a rapist and his victim.
Correction: The earlier version of this article mis-stated that it was the Madras high court, not the Madhya Pradesh high court order.
The order came while accepting the Madhya Pradesh government’s plea challenging the high court acquitting a man accused of rape.
The bench held that:
Sometimes solace is given that the perpetrator of the crime has acceded to enter into wedlock with her which is nothing but putting pressure in an adroit manner; and we say with emphasis that the Courts are to remain absolutely away from this subterfuge to adopt a soft approach to the case, for any kind of liberal approach has to be put in the compartment of spectacular error. Or to put it differently, it would be in the realm of a sanctuary of error. We are compelled to say so as such an attitude reflects lack of sensibility towards the dignity, the elan vital, of a woman. Any kind of liberal approach or thought of mediation in this regard is thoroughly and completely sans legal permissibility.
In the instant appeal, as a reminder, though repetitive, first we shall dwell upon, in a painful manner, how some of the appellate Judges, contrary to the precedents and against the normative mandate of law, assuming a presumptuous role have paved the path of unbelievable laconicity to deal with criminal appeals which, if we permit ourselves to say, ruptures the sense of justice and punctures the criminal justice dispensation system.
DO NOT, REPEAT DO NOT, READ THIS WITHOUT SITTING DOWN OR HEADACHE TABLETS HANDY! #janhitmeinjaari #DipakMisra pic.twitter.com/RSUPWaFsXE
— Court Witness (@CourtWitness1) July 1, 2015
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Rape is non-consensual sexual violence, nothing else. Raped women are not ruined for life, its time our male judges were educated about this.
The following quote from the SC judgment with its use of language like purest treasure and richest jewel almost mirrors M L Sharma's woman as a 'diamond' mindset -
"These are crimes against the body of a woman which is her own temple. These are offences which suffocate the breath of life and sully the reputation. And reputation, needless to emphasise, is the
richest jewel one can conceive of in life. No one would allow it to be extinguished. When a human frame is defiled, the “purest treasure”, is lost. Dignity of a woman is a part of her non-perishable and immortal self and no one should ever think of painting it in clay. There cannot be a compromise or settlement as it would be against her honour which matters the most. It is sacrosanct.
...
We are compelled to say so as such an attitude reflects lack of sensibility towards the dignity, the elan vital, of a woman."
Also see www.huffingtonpost.in/2015/07/01/supreme-court-judgment-_n_7703744.html
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