The Supreme Court on Tuesday overturned a Calcutta High Court order that had asked adolescent girls to control their sexual urges, reported Bar and Bench.
The High Court had made the remarks in October while acquitting a man accused of sexually assaulting a minor girl.
In September 2022, a sessions court in the South 24 Parganas district convicted the man under sections of the Indian Penal Code pertaining to kidnapping and sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act.
The man then approached the High Court, which acquitted him.
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court restored the man’s conviction and directed a committee of experts to decide on his sentence. A bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan said it has explained in detail how courts should draft judgements, according to Bar and Bench.
The High Court, while setting aside the verdict of the sessions court, had said that adolescent girls must control their sexual urges and that adolescent boys must train themselves to respect women.
The Supreme Court, however, said on December 8 that the High Court’s remarks were “unwarranted and highly objectionable”. The top court said that the observations violated the rights of adolescents under Article 21 of the Constitution, which deals with the right to life and personal liberty.
The case
The High Court, in its judgement, had said that the case was about a “non-exploitative consensual sexual relationship” between two consenting adolescents. However, it had added there was a need to guide adolescents about matters related to sexuality.
A bench of Justices Chitta Ranjan Dash and Partha Sarathi Sen had said that every adolescent girl must control her sexual urges as “in the eyes of the society, she is the [loser] when she gives in to enjoy the sexual pleasure of hardly two minutes”.
It had added: “It is the duty of a male adolescent to respect the aforesaid duties of a young girl or woman and he should train his mind to respect a woman, her self-worth, her dignity and privacy, and right to autonomy of her body.”
The girl told the court that she had physical relations with the man of her own will and that she subsequently married him. The girl added that she and the man hailed from a rural area and did not know that their relationship and marriage constituted an offence.
The age of consent for sex in India is 18. Consent given by a person below the age of 18 is not regarded as valid and sexual intercourse in such an instance amounts to rape.
Limited-time offer: Big stories, small price. Keep independent media alive. Become a Scroll member today!
Our journalism is for everyone. But you can get special privileges by buying an annual Scroll Membership. Sign up today!