Union Minister of Women and Child Development Annpurna Devi today strongly condemned a recent judgment by the Allahabad High Court, which ruled that the act of grabbing a woman’s breast and snapping the string of her pyjama does not constitute rape but instead falls under the category of assault with intent to disrobe.

Reacting to the judgment, Ms Devi called it “wrong” and urged the Supreme Court to take note of the matter. She warned that such a ruling would “send a wrong message to society”. 

Her statement comes in response to an order issued by Justice Ram Manohar Narayan Mishra, who ruled in favour of two men who had challenged a lower court’s decision to summon them under charges of rape.

Echoing Ms Devi’s sentiments, other women leaders also called for Supreme Court intervention.

“It is quite disgusting the way there is a complete disregard of women by and large in the country, which we need to get over with,” June Malia, Trinamool Congress MP told NDTV.

“Very unfortunate. I am very shocked at the comments made in the judgment. It is a very shameful scenario. How can the act that was committed by those men can not be taken as an act amounting to rape? I don’t understand the logic behind this judgment. The Supreme Court needs to step in,” Swati Maliwal, former DCW chief and AAP MP told NDTV. 

The case dates back to November 10, 2021. According to the complaint filed by the victim, she and her 14-year-old daughter were returning from the home of her sister-in-law in the evening when three men from their village – Pawan, Akash, and Ashok – approached them on a muddy road.

Pawan offered to drop the victim’s daughter home on his motorcycle, and the woman, trusting him, allowed her daughter to go with him. The accused stopped on the way and allegedly assaulted her.

According to the victim’s complaint, Pawan and Akash grabbed her breasts, and Akash tried to drag her beneath a culvert. He also broke the string of her pyjama. The assault was interrupted when two people arrived at the scene after hearing the victim’s cries for help. The accused then reportedly brandished a country-made pistol and fled.

Following an investigation, a trial court had summoned the accused under Section 376 of the IPC (rape), along with other relevant charges. The accused challenged this order in the Allahabad High Court.

Justice Mishra, while reviewing the case, observed that the actions of the accused did not constitute rape or even an attempt to rape. 

“In the present case, the allegation against accused Pawan and Akash is that they grabbed the breasts of the victim and Akash tried to bring down the lower garment of the victim and for that purpose, they had broken string of her lower garments and tried to drag her beneath the culvert, but due to intervention of witnesses they left the victim and fled away from the place of incident.

“This fact is not sufficient to draw an inference that the accused persons had determined to commit rape on the victim as apart from these facts no other act is attributed to them to further their alleged desire to commit rape on the victim,” the court said.