The Supreme Court on Wednesday stayed an Allahabad High Court order of March 17, which concluded that “mere” grabbing the breasts of a minor victim, breaking the string of her pyjama to “bring down” her lower garment are not suficient to constitute an offence of attempt to rape.

A day after the Supreme Court took suo motu cognisance of the order, a Bench headed by Justice B.R. Gavai said the observations made by a Single Judge Bench of Justice Ram Manohar Narayan Mishra of the High Court were “totally insensitive, inhuman” and “unknown to the tenets of law”.

Justice Gavai pointed out that certain paragraphs of the order, which graphically recounted the trauma endured by the minor victim at the hands of the two accused persons only to conclude their actions did not show any determination on the part of the duo to rape her, showed a “complete lack of sensitivity”.

The Bench said what made it worse was the order was not dictated by the judge on the spur of the moment. The case was reserved for orders in November 2024. The order passed on March 17, almost four months later, was, even according to Justice Mishra, after “thoughtful consideration and meticulous examination of the facts of the case”.

Later, in the post-lunch session, a lawyer urged the Bench to restrict the media from reporting the top court order. “No, the judge should have thought 10 times before writing such things,” Justice Gavai retorted.

In the morning, the top court was assisted by Attorney-General R. Venkataramani and Solicitor-General Tushar Mehta, who urged the Bench to examine the suo motu case with great care. The court issued notice to the Centre and Uttar Pradesh.

Image source: The aspect radio