Supreme Court Refuses to Entertain Plea Against Allahabad HC Judgement 'Grabbing Breasts Not Attempt to Rape'

New Delhi: The Supreme Court has refused to entertain a plea filed against the controversial Allahabad High Court judgement by Justice Ram Manohar Narayana Mishra that, ‘grabbing breasts is not an attempt to rape'.

The petition that sought the deletion of the controversial part of the judgement has been rejected by the apex court.

Supreme Court Rejects Plea Against Controversial Allahabad HC Judgement 

The Supreme Court refused to hear a petition filed regarding the judgment related to the attempted rape of a minor girl, by the single-judge bench of Justice Ram Manohar Narayana Mishra of the Allahabad High Court.

Also Read: Grabbing Breasts, Breaking Pyjama Strings Not Attempt to Rape, Just Stage of Preparation: Allahabad HC

The petition demanded the removal of the controversial part of the judgment in which the court had said that 'in this case, the allegation of holding the victim's breast and breaking the string of the pyjama does not constitute a case of attempted rape against the accused'.

Grabbing Breasts Not Attempt to Rape: Allahabad High Court Judge

While hearing the plea challenging the lower court's decision in the rape case of an 11-year-old girl, Allahabad High Court's single-judge bench of Justice Ram Manohar Narayana Mishra modified the summoning order and also directed that the two accused must be tried under lesser charges.

The court order that stirred a massive controversy read, "...the allegation against accused Pawan and Akash is that they grabbed the breasts of the victim and Akash tried to bring down lower garment of the victim and for that purpose they had broken string of her lower garments and tried to drag her beneath the culvert, but due to intervention of witnesses they left the victim and fled away from the place of incident. This fact is not sufficient to draw an inference that the accused persons had determined to commit rape on victim as apart from these facts no other act is attributed to them to further their alleged desire to commit rape on the victim.

Calling ‘grabbing of breasts’ and ‘breaking pyjama strings’ a stage of preparation and differentiating it from an actual attempt, the court order further read, "...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 accused tried to commit penetrative sexual assault against the victim. In order to bring out a charge of attempt to rape the prosecution must establish that it had gone beyond the stage of preparation. The difference between preparation and actual attempt to commit an offence consists chiefly in the greater degree of determination.”