Grabbing Child’s Breast, Breaking Pyjama String Not Rape Attempt: Allahabad HC
Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh: Grabbing the breast of a child victim and breaking her pyjama string does not constitute rape or attempt to rape, stated the Allahabad High Court in an order. The Court made the remark while passing judgement on a case in which two men allegedly assaulted a 11-year-old child.
The Court altered the charges against the two accused, Pawan and Akash, who were originally summoned to stand trial under rape charges (Section 376 IPC) and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offence (POCSO) Act.
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The two accused allegedly grabbed the 11-year-old’s breasts, broke her pyjama string and tried to drag her beneath a culvert in Uttar Pradesh’s Kasganj. When passers-by interfered, the accused fled, leaving the victim behind.
Justice Ram Manohar Narayan Mishra observed that due to the intervention of witnesses which led the accused to flee, it was “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 directed the accused to be tried under the lesser charge of assault (Section 354-B IPC) and aggravated sexual assault (Sections 9/10 of the POCSO Act).
“It is also not stated by witnesses that due to this act of the accused, the victim got naked or got undressed. There is no allegation that the accused tried to commit penetrative sexual assault against the victim,” the High Court stated.
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The judge concluded that no material on record inferred that the accused was determined to commit rape.
A third accused, Ashok, father of Pawan, has been summoned under Sections 504 and 506 of the IPC for abusing and threatening the complainant when she approached him after the incident.
