Nine women lawyers challenge Madhya Pradesh HC bail condition directing man accused of sexual assault to get Rakhi tied by victim

Supreme Court advocate Aparna Bhat and eight other women lawyers have challenged the July 30 bail condition imposed by Madhya Pradesh High Court where a man accused of sexual assault was asked to get a Rakhi tied on him by the victim.

.Madhya Pradesh HC allows bail to a man accused of outraging woman's modesty on condition that he requests her to tie him a 'Rakhi'. The petitioners have however stated that they have not challenged the grant of bail but only the condition set out of tying rakhi to the accused.

. The plea filed by Advocate on Record, Pukhrambam Ramesh Kumar, has sought for a stay on the condition for bail imposed on July 30.

. The challenged High Court order had stated:

. "The applicant along with his wife shall visit the house of the complainant with Rakhi thread / band on 03rd August, 2020 at 11:00 am with a box of sweets and request the complainant- Sarda Bai to tie the Rakhi band to him with the promise to protect her to the best of his ability for all times to come. He shall also tender Rs. 11,000/- (Rs. Eleven Thousand Only) to the complainant as a customary ritual usually offered by the brothers to sisters on such occasion and shall also seek her blessings." . The plea avers that since the judgment comes from a High Court, it would trivialize such an heinous offence and that " there is a strong likelihood that such observations and directions may result in normalizing what is essentially a crime and has been recognized to be so by the law. "

. "The Hon’ble High Court ought to have been cognizant and sensitive to the fact that in a case involving a sexual offence having been committed against a woman, it is immeasurably difficult for the survivor to lodge an FIR and pursue a criminal case against the accused at the threshold." the Petitioners add. . While Rakshabandhan is a festival of guardianship between brothers and sisters, the petitioners argue that the said bail condition amounts " to a gross trivialization of the trauma suffered by the Complainant in the present case. "

. The petitioners add,

. "... the present case is of particular concern since it has taken years to undo the damaging approach followed by Courts whereby cases involving sexual offences committed against women are attempted to be compromised by way of marriage or mediation between the accused and the survivor." Petitioners . One of the substantial questions of law raised in the plea is " Whether in a case seeking bail, it is appropriate for a court to impose extraneous conditions which allows contact between the accused and the complainant? "

. The High Court direction that the accused visit the victim's house would also lead to the " victimization of the survivor in her own house ", the petitioners submit. The plea further highlights that the alleged offence of outraging the victim's modesty, in this case, was committed by the accused by forcibly entering the victim's house.

. Objection is also raised towards that fact that the sexual assault survivor is "forced to accept the sum of Rs. 11,000 as part of the customary ritual of Rakhshabandhan ", as opposed to compensation that may be awarded by courts.

. The challenge will be heard on October 16 by the top Court.

Nine women lawyers challenge Madhya Pradesh HC bail condition directing man accused of sexual assault to get Rakhi tied by victim

Debayan Roy

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