Friday, January 10, 2014

Judge's rape remark insensitive: Delhi high court

Judge's rape remark insensitive: Delhi high court

Smriti Singh, TNN Jan 7, 2014, 12.07AM IST

NEW DELHI: Just a day before a fast-track court, set up exclusively to deal with cases of sexual offence against women, said that pre-marital sex "is not only immoral but also against the tenets of every religion", Delhi high court had passed a stern order against the same court for giving "sermons" to "the feminine gender as a class" in one of its previous orders.

The HC had taken suo motu cognizance of the remarks made in the October 7, 2013 rape case decided by additional sessions judge Virender Bhat, wherein he had said, "They voluntarily elope with their lovers to explore the greener pastures of bodily pleasure, and on return to their homes, they conveniently fabricate the story of kidnap and rape in order to escape scolds and harsh treatment from the parents." 

The trial court had further said, "The girls are morally and socially bound not to indulge in sexual intercourse before a proper marriage, and if they do so, it would be to their peril and they cannot be heard to cry later on that it was rape."

In its order pronounced on December 19, 2013, a division bench of justices Pradeep Nandrajog and V Kameswar Rao held that the trial court's observations were "prima facie insensitive" and were "capable of influencing the police to take up women harassment cases lightly, resulting in an insensitive investigation and complete evidence not being brought before the court."

The HC asked State Judicial Academy to nominate the judge as a participant "whenever a topic on gender sensitivity is discussed". The bench further said that the "sweeping observations" against the girl in the case were "not based on the evidence on record".

"It is apparent that the remarks, which are general in nature, are not based on the evidence on record (and) appear to be the result of the experience of the judge...The judge has imparted his personal knowledge pertaining to females in the decision-making," the bench said.

Just a day after the HC passed its order, ASJ Bhat, on December 20, observed in another rape case that pre-marital sex is "not only immoral but also against the tenets of every religion. No religion in the world allows pre-marital sex".

While absolving the man of the charge of rape- he had been accused of having sexual intercourse with a woman after obtaining her consent on the false promise of marriage - the court observed, "When a grown-up, educated and office-going woman subjects herself to sexual intercourse with a friend or colleague on the latter's promise that he would marry her, she does so at her own peril."

While his comments once again stirred up a controversy, ASJ Bhat has been known for speaking his mind in his orders. In November last year, while acquitting a youth who was accused of kidnapping and raping a minor girl with whom he was in love and had married her, the judge asked the parents to "impart good moral values and education" to their children to curb the menace of elopement and runaway marriages.

He had also stoked a debate in May 2012, when he criticized the proposed law by the government to raise the age of consent for sex from 16 years to 18. Terming it as "undemocratic" and "regressive", the judge had said the move would open "floodgates for the prosecution of the boys for offences of rape, on the basis of complaints by the parents of the girl, no matter (even if) the girl would have been the consenting party and offer to have sexual intercourse may have come from her side."



GIRLS LODGE FALSE CASES TO ESCAPE PARENTS’ SCOLDING खुद भागती हैं,सेक्स करती हैं,फिर कहती हैं रेप हो गया

‘GIRLS LODGE FALSE CASES TO ESCAPE PARENTS’ SCOLDING’

Friday, 18 October 2013 | Staff Reporter | New Delhi 

A city court has expressed concerns over the growing trend of girls fabricating false rape cases despite having eloped voluntarily with their lovers. 

Acquitting a man of raping a woman by deceitfully making her believe that she is his legally wedded wife, the court said girls voluntarily elope with their lovers but to escape their parents’ scolding they lodge false cases. 

“They (girls) voluntarily elope with their lovers to explore the greener pastures of bodily pleasure and on return to their homes, they conveniently fabricate the story of kidnap and rape in order to escape harsh treatment by parents. These cases tend to trivialise the offences of rape and undermine its gravity. A girl of this age group (19-24 years), even if belonging to a rural area, cannot be believed to be not knowing how the marriage is performed or what are the essential ceremonies of a marriage,” said Additional Sessions Judge Virender Bhat. 

The police said that in 2008, the accused in collusion with his brother, had taken photographs of the alleged victim in objectionable position with him to blackmail and pressurise her not to take any legal action against him. 

When the 24-year-old woman pressurised him to fulfil his promise of marriage, he took her to Jammu on the pretext of marrying her and applied vermillion on her forehead and made her believe that she was his wife, the police said. 

He maintained physical relations with her by making her believe that they were husband and wife. The accused had also assaulted the girl, the police added. 

The court, however, said this kind of marriage is usually resorted to when the boy and girl are in love with each other and their respective parents are against their alliance. 

“The conduct of the girl in accompanying the accused to Jammu for court marriage demonstrates that she wanted to marry the accused but her parents were against this marriage. Her longing to marry the accused appears to be only out of deep love and not on account of assurance of marriage by the accused,” the court added while acquitting the man. 

The court also said that of late it has observed a trend where the girl says the boy took her to a room, applied vermillion on her forehead, put garland around her neck and declared that they are now husband and wife. 

“Then they indulge in sexual intercourse with each other, with the consent of the girl and later on the girl alleges rape on the false assurance of marriage. This is a very disturbing trend. The girls in such cases are mostly in the age group of 19-24 years, thus, mature enough to understand the consequences of their acts and not so numb to get carried away with any representations of the boy," the court said. 


"खुद भागती हैं,सेक्स करती हैं,फिर कहती हैं रेप हो गया"

Girls caught with lovers file rape case after being caught: Court
Delhi, Fri Oct 18 2013, 04:37 PM

दिल्ली। दिल्ली की एक कोर्ट ने बलात्कार के आरोपी को यह कहते हुए बरी कर दिया कि लड़कियां खुद अपनी मर्जी से प्रेमियों के संग भागती हैं और माता-पिता के कोप से बचने के लिए फर्जी रेप केस दर्ज करवाती हैं।

अतिरिक्त सत्र न्यायाधीश वीरेन्द्र भट्ट ने कहा कि लड़कियां शारीरिक सुख के लिए स्वेच्छा से भागती हैं। जब घर लौटती हैं तो अपने माता-पिता के कड़े बतार्व से बचने के लिए अपनी सुविधा के मुताबिक अपहरण और रेप की झूठी कहानियां गढ़ती हैं। इस तरह के फर्जी मामलों से बलात्कार के अपराध की गंभीरता कम होती है।

न्यायाधीश ने कहा कि 19 से 24 साल की लड़कियां चाहे वे ग्रामीण इलाकों की ही क्यों न हों,नहीं जानती कि शादी क्या होती है और शादी के लिए जरूरी समारोह क्या होते हैं। एक युवक पर अपनी ही रिश्तेदार से बलात्कार का आरोप लगा था। आरोपी को बरी करते हुए न्यायाधीश ने टिप्पणी की।

पुलिस ने कहा कि 2008 में आरोपी ने अपने भाई के साथ मिलकर कथित पीडिता के आपत्तिजनक अवस्था में फोटो खींचे थे। ऎसा पीडिता को ब्लैकमेल करने और उस पर यह दबाव बनाने के लिए किया गया कि वह कोई कानूनी कार्रवाई न कर सकें। जब 24 वर्षीय पीडिता ने उस पर शादी के लिए दबाव डाला तो वह उसे जम्मू ले गया। वहां उसने महिला की मांग में सिंदूर भरा और उसे विश्वास दिलाया कि अब वह उसकी पत्नी है। इसके बाद आरोपी ने उसके साथ शारीरिक संबंध बनाए। आरोपी ने पीडिता की पिटाई भी की।

इस पर कोर्ट ने कहा कि इस तरह की शादियां तब होती है जब घर वाले खिलाफ हों और लड़का-लड़की एक दूसरे के प्यार की गिरफ्त में हों। शादी का रजिस्ट्रेशन कराने के लिए आरोपी के साथ जम्मू की कोर्ट में जाने वाली लड़की के बर्ताव से पता चलता है कि वह आरोपी से शादी करना चाहती थी लेकिन उसके घर वाले खिलाफ थे। लड़की ही आरोपी के प्यार में पागल थी। आरोपी ने शादी का आश्वासन नहीं दिया था।

कोर्ट ने कहा कि आजकल यह चलना हो गया है, लड़की कहती है कि लड़का उसे कमरे में ले गया। उसकी मांग में सिंदूर भरा,गले में वरमाला डाली और घोषणा कर दी कि दोनों अब पति-पत्नी हैं। इसके बाद दोनों ने शारीरिक संबंध स्थापित किए। ये संबंध लड़की की इच्छा से स्थापित होते हैं लेकिन बाद में लड़की यह कहकर लड़के पर रेप का आरोप लगाती है कि लड़के ने शादी का झूठा वादा करके शारीरिक संबंध बनाए। यह विचलित करना वाला ट्रेंड है। इस तरह के मामले में ज्यादातर लड़कियां 19 से 24 साल के बीच की होती हैं।