The Calcutta High Court has said that trying to touch the breast of a drunk girl, there is no attempt to rape under the Prevention of Children from Sexual Offense (POCSO) Act. This can be considered an attempt to be severe sexual harassment. We are giving bail to the accused.
This decision of the Calcutta High Court has come when the Supreme Court a few days ago described the same comment of the Allahabad High Court as insensitive. The Supreme Court had stayed the High Court’s decision.
On March 19, Justice Ram Manohar Narayan Mishra of the Allahabad High Court had said- There is no rape of a minor’s breast, breaking the pulse of pajamas or dragging it under the culvert.
On March 26, the Supreme Court said, ‘This is a very serious matter. We are very sad to say that there was a complete lack of sensitivity in the judge who wrote the decision. Let’s stop this.
The trial court convicted the accused under Section 10 of the POCSO Act and Section 448/376 (2) (C)/511 of the IPC. The court sentenced him to 12 years in jail and a fine of Rs 50,000. The accused filed a petition in the Calcutta High Court against this.
The accused said that he was in jail for more than two years. The court is not expected to come soon in this case. In such a situation, he should be granted bail. The accused had also said in his petition that even though the victims, investigating doctors and other witnesses have been considered as true, the allegations are not proved.
During the hearing of the Division Bench of Justice Arijit Banerjee and Justice Biswaroop Chaudhary in the Calcutta High Court, the counsel for the accused argued that without painting cannot be considered a crime under Section 376 of the IPC. More and more POSCO Act can become a case of serious sexual harassment under Section 10. The punishment fixed for this is 5 to 7 years.
The lawyer said that the accused has completed a large part of this sentence, so he should get bail. On this, the court admitted that there are no signs of pennation in the evidence given by the victim. The court said that an attempt to catch the breast could be a case of serious sexual harassment rather than tried to rape.
