On March 18, the Supreme Court set aside Madhya Pradesh High Court’s order wherein it asked a man, who was accused to sexual assault, to get rakhi tied by the victim in order to get bail.
A bench which was headed by Justice AM Khanwilkar, issued a set of directions among which were sensitisation of the judges. He also asserted that judges should stay away from any sort of stereotyping.
Advocate Aparna Bhat and eight other women lawyers had filed a plea against the July 30, 2020 order in question by the MP high court. “The bail condition in question amounts to further victimisation of the survivor in her own house. In the context of ‘Raksha Bandhan’ being a festival of guardianship between brothers and sisters, the said bail condition amounts to gross trivialisation of the trauma suffered by the complainant in the present case,” said the plea, as per reports by TOI.
Bhat also expressed that passing of such orders by a constitutional court could result in normalising “what is essentially a crime and has been recognised to be so by the law.”
The plea added, “It is highly objectionable for the High Court in the present case to put the complainant in a position where she is forced to accept the sum of ₹11,000 as part of the customary ritual of Raksha Bandhan. Moreover, the said bail condition also goes a step further by stating that Respondent No. 2 (the accused) tender ₹5,000 to the son the complainant.”
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