NEW DELHI: Supreme Court on Tuesday took suo motu cognisance of the controversial order passed by Allahabad high court which had held that grabbing a minor girl’s breasts and breaking her pyjama string were not enough to charge an accused with the offence of rape or attempt to rape, reports Amit Anand Choudhary.
As the controversial order passed on March 17 came under severe criticism and many sought the SC’s intervention, the apex court registered a suo motu case which will be heard on Wednesday by a bench of Justices B R Gavai and A G Masih The SC’s intervention will ensure that the HC ruling is not followed by trial courts which could otherwise have adversely affected criminal proceedings in rape cases.
The high court passed the order while modifying a summoning order by altering the charges against two accused. Initially, the accused were summoned to face trial under Section 376 (rape) and under the Pocso Act.
