Breaking: Justice Krishna Dixit expunges part of bail order containing controversial remarks against rape victim

Justice Krishna Dixit of the Karnataka High Court has expunged certain remarks made against a rape victim in his recent order granting anticipatory bail to an accused ( Rakesh B v. State of Karnataka ).

. Highlighting this, the revised order passed on July 1 and uploaded on the High Court website today, reads,

. "Taking note of the contents of respondent-State’s Application which is supported by the accompanying Affidavit and also the No Objection tendered by the petitioner-accused thereto, I deem it appropriate to expunge the last four lines occurring in para No.3(c) at Page 4 of the subject Judgment dated 22.06.2020, as sought for at para 5 of the said Application, the rest having been retained intact." Karnataka High Court . The para in question earlier read,

"...nothing is mentioned by the complainant as to why she went to her office at night ie., 11.00 p.m.; she has also not objected to consuming drinks with the petitioner and allowing him to stay with her till morning; the explanation offered by the complainant that after the perpetration of the act she was tired and fell asleep, is unbecoming of an Indian woman; that is not the way our women react when they are ravished."

. Justice Dixit has further clarified that the observations made by the High Court shall not influence the investigation of the offences alleged and the likely trial. The revised order states,

. "It hardly needs to be stated that the observations made by this Court in the subject Judgment being confined to consideration & disposal of the bail petition, shall not influence in any way the investigation of the offences alleged and the likely trial thereof."

. The application in this regard was moved by Government Pleader Nageshwarappa .

. Recently, the Single Judge Bench had strangely observed in its order that it was "unbecoming" of an alleged rape victim to have fallen asleep after being "ravished" .

."Unbecoming of an Indian woman" to sleep after being ravished, not how our women react: Karnataka HC while granting bail to rape accused . The remark made in this part of the order was met with heavy criticism from the legal fraternity and civil society alike.

.Comments of Karnataka HC Judge on conduct of rape victim is "misogyny at worst", SC Lawyer in Open Letter to CJI and Woman Judges. Voicing concern over these remarks, women’s rights activists, individuals, and groups had addressed an open letter condemning Justice Krishna S Dixit’s statements in his June 22 order.

. Foremost among the concerns raised was the judge’s remark that the complainant sleeping after the alleged rape was “' unbecoming' of an Indian woman ” and not in accordance with “ the way our women react when they are ravished ."

.Debriefed: The controversy over Justice Krishna Dixit's “misogynistic” remarks. This apart, another open letter was addressed to Chief Justice of India SA Bobde and the Supreme Court's, Justices R Banumathi, Indu Malhotra and Indira Banerjee by Advocate Aparna Bhat, urging the Court to issue an advisory to all High Courts and subordinate courts to refrain from commenting on the conduct of victims of sexual violence.

. [Read the revised order]

Breaking: Justice Krishna Dixit expunges part of bail order containing controversial remarks against rape victim

Rintu Mariam Biju

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