New Delhi (ILNS): The Supreme Court bench of Justices A. M. Khanwilkar and B. R. Gavai today took up a petition challenging a bail order issued by the Madhya Pradesh High Court where a man accused of sexual assault was asked to get a rakhi tied on him by the victim. That was the condition for bail. A plea against this order has been filed by nine women lawyers.
Today Senior Counsel Sanjay Parikh, appearing for the petitioners, submitted that such observations in cases of rape, sexual assault cases and the conditions imposed are not in the interest of victims.
The bench asked if the issue is restricted to Madhya Pradesh or other states as well.
Parikh said that it is not only against the state of Madhya Pradesh (its high court), but with respect to observations made by the district courts and high courts in every state.
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The plea states that such orders “objectify women” and is a gross trivialisation of the trauma suffered by the victim. The “public-spirited” lawyers led by Aparna Bhat have submitted that imposing a condition where the accused would be required to go to the house of the complainant on the festival of raksha bandhan and request her to tie a rakhi around his wrist with the “promise to protect her to the best of his ability for all times to come” resulted in further victimisation of the survivor in her own house.
The bench has issued notice in this case.
-ILNS