Wrong for judges to comment on sexual ethics: Apex court

ON DEC 8, THE APEX COURT HAD STAYED THE HC JUDGEMENT, STATING THAT ITS OBSERVATIONS WERE 'HIGHLY OBJECTIONABLE'

- Utkarsh Anand

It sends the "absolutely wrong signal" when judges comment on sexual ethics and the ideal behaviour expected from young boys and girls, the Supreme Court lamented on Thursday, frowning upon a Calcutta high court judgment which suggested that every teenage girl should "control sexual urges" and "protect her right to integrity of her body".

A bench of justices AS Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan said judges are expected to go by the statute and principles of law instead of imposing their sense of morality and opinions when cases involving sexual offences come up.

"Writing such kinds of things is absolutely wrong. It sends absolutely the wrong signal. What kind of principles judges are invoking by saying such things?" wondered the bench, as it took up the suo motu proceedings initiated against the October 18 judgment of the high court that had further said that "in the eyes of the society she (the teenage girl) is the loser when she gives in to enjoy the sexual pleasure of hardly two minutes".