On Tuesday, 20th August, the Supreme Court disapproved the statements made by the Calcutta High Court that asked adolescent girls to ”control sexual urges’ so that they are not deemed ‘losers’ by society. The High Court had also asked adolescent girls to restrict themselves from ‘giving in to two minutes of pleasure’.
The Supreme Court, keeping aside the judgment by the High Court, charged a 25-year-old individual under the POCSO Act, 2012 for having sexual intercourse with a 14-year-old girl. The Supreme Court stated in its decision that it has published extensive guidelines about the appropriate implementation of the POCSO Act and the format in which justices ought to compose their decisions.
Supreme Court sets aside the judgement of Calcutta High Court which had advised “adolescent girls to control their sexual urges”.
— ANI (@ANI) August 20, 2024
Supreme Court also restores the conviction of the man who was acquitted by the High Court for raping a minor girl with whom he had a 'romantic… pic.twitter.com/zDMvNazEAR
The Supreme Court, which had taken suo motu cognizance of the order, declared on December 8th last year that judges should not use their position to preach during court proceedings, but rather should base their decisions on the law and the evidence. It also questioned the legality of the High Court’s decision to clear the accused, who had been charged under the POCSO Act and the IPC.
“Control sexual urge/urges as in the eyes of the society she is the loser when she gives in to enjoy the sexual pleasure of hardly two minutes,” the Calcutta HC was quoted as saying in the year 2023, acquitting the 25-year-old who had been sentenced to 20 years in prison for engaging in sexual relations with a minor.
On January 4th, 2024, 2-Judge Supreme Court Bench of Justice A S Oka and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan had called the Calcutta High Court’s decision to be problematic. “It’s not only about these observations, but the findings of the court. Writing such judgments is wrong. What kind of principles the judges have invoked? In case of settlement, there is a series of judgments on that,” Justice AS Oka had noted.
Pointing out other ‘problematic’ paragraphs in the Calcutta High Court Judgment, the Judge further said, “Every paragraph is problematic. We have marked all the paragraphs.” Further, on 8th December, the Supreme Court had taken suo moto cognizance of the event and had said that the observations by the Calcutta High Court were ‘objectionable’ and ‘completely unwarranted.’ It further pointed out that the observations also violated the rights of adolescents, as guaranteed by the Indian Constitution under Article 21.
The Background of the Controversy
On 18th October last year, a 2-Judge Bench of the Calcutta High delivered a verdict, overturning the conviction of a 25-year-old man accused of having sexual intercourse with a 14-year-old girl and sentenced to 20 years in prison.
While doing so, Justice Chitta Ranjan Dash and Justice Partha Sarathi Sen listed out specific duties for adolescent boys and girls. The court ruled,
“It is the duty or obligation of every female adolescent to (i) Protect her right to the integrity of her body, (ii) Protect her dignity and self-worth, (iii) Thrive for the overall development of her self-transcending gender barriers, (iv) Control sexual urge or urges as in the eyes of the society she is the loser when she gives in to enjoy the sexual pleasure of hardly two minutes, (v) Protect her right to autonomy of her body and her privacy. A male adolescent must respect the aforesaid duties of a young girl or woman and he should train his mind to respect a woman, her self-worth, her dignity and privacy, and her right to autonomy of her body.”
“We do not want our adolescents to do anything that shall push them from the dark to the darker side of life. It is normal for each adolescent to seek the company of the opposite sex, but it is not normal for them to engage in sex devoid of any commitment and dedication. Sex shall come automatically to them when they grow self-reliant, economically independent and a person which they dreamt one day to be, it concluded,” the Judges had said.
Any sexual act with a minor shall be looked upon as a crime
It is now customary in society to hold women accountable for any sexual tragedies they experience. They are asked to give up their freedom of choice, wear longer garments, arrive home before dark, and refrain from conversing with men in general. They are even held accountable in the majority of rape cases on the grounds that they ‘provoke’ the accused to conduct such horrible acts.
In most cases, the rapists refuse to have committed a crime and even justify their acts by objectifying the victims. An instance that immediately comes to mind when discussing this is that of Mukesh Singh, one of the accused who brutally raped Nirbhaya in Delhi in 2012. According to Singh, it was Nirbhaya’s fault that led to her brutal rape and death.
Mukesh Singh in an interview with BBC had claimed that had Nirbhya not resisted, she would have been alive. He also added that those women who choose to roam on the streets late at night deserve to be raped as they get out of their houses only to attract men. As per ‘Why Men Rape’ research by Author Tara Kaushal, apart from the accused persons, many at large in the society including politicians, and activists who believe in the patriarchal framework of the Indian society claim that it is women who need to behave to prevent cases of rape in India.
‘Spiritual’ leader Asaram Bapu who got life imprisonment in a 2013 rape case once stated that “The victim is as guilty as her rapists”. As per him, the girl should call the culprit brothers and beg them to stop. Mulayam Singh Yadav, SP supremo had in 2014 attempted to give clean chit to rapist men saying, “Boys are boys, they make mistakes. Will they be hanged for rape?”
Giving a solution to this, Om Prakash Chautala, former Haryana CM had proposed child marriage as a solution to rape and other atrocities against women. Former HM of Madhya Pradesh, Babulal Gaur had commented saying that “the rate of crimes against women depends on how completely they are dressed.”
West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee also has a history of downplaying such gruesome incidents when happened in the state of West Bengal. A detailed report on this case can be read here.
After all this, it feels like hoping for change and hoping for justice for victims in rape cases is always going to be a crime. India is a patriarchal society, but that does not give the right to society to target victims even for crimes they can never be held responsible for. Blaming women for their clothing choices, for their friend circle, and for their choice to work late at night, etc is never going to bring any solution to the increasing incidents of rape but only expose the psychological vulnerability of people who think alike. It is high time that society accepts that it is men who are the cause of the problem, it is their mentality, and their outlook that needs to be changed.
In the given case, the Calcutta High Court acquitted the accused for raping a 14-year-old minor girl, actually impacting her right to life guarded under section 21 of the Indian Constitution. Minors usually are believed to have a vulnerable conscience that affects their decision-making power. In such cases, it is the duty of the adults dealing with them to respect and protect their feelings, decisions, and right to life eventually. Consent in sexual intercourse plays an important role. Any act in which an adult girl refuses to say a clear ‘Yes’ shall be looked upon as a crime. In the same manner, any sexual act with a minor (be it a boy or girl) despite their decision shall be looked upon as a crime, again given their vulnerable conscience.
