Ruling on rape bid: SC pulls up Allahabad HC

Observations are unknown to tenets of law, show inhuman approach: SC

- PARMOD KUMAR

Taking umbrage at the "lack of insensitivity", the Supreme Court on Wednesday stayed the controversial observations in the 17 March 2025, Allahabad High Court ruling, which stated that grabbing a minor girl's breasts, breaking the string of her pyjama and trying to drag her beneath a culvert would not come under the offence of rape or an attempt to rape.

Terming it a "serious matter" and "total insensitiveness" on the part of the judge who authored the judgment, Justice BR Gavai heading a bench also comprising Justice Augustine George Masih said: "It is a serious matter. Total insensitiveness on part of the judge. This was at the stage of issuing summons. We are sorry to use such harsh words against the judge."