‘Not trying to touch a woman’s breast’, now the Calcutta High Court gave the verdict

Another strange case has come to light. In which the Calcutta High Court has said that trying to touch the breast of a drunken minor is not an attempt to rape under the Poxo Act. It only falls under the category of sexual offense. A division bench of Justice Arijit Banerjee and Justice Biswaroop Chaudhary made this comment prohibiting the order of the lower court to convict and sentence the accused under Poxo. The lower court sentenced the accused to 12 years of rigorous imprisonment.

The bench also said that it is not clear from the victim’s forensic investigation whether the accused raped or tried to rape. The bench said that such evidences can justify the allegations of serious sexual assault under Section 10 of the Poxo Act, 2012, but do not indicate the crime of rape attempt. The bench said that if the charge is limited to ‘serious sexual harassment’ after the final hearing, the sentence of the accused will be reduced from 12 years to five to seven years.

Let me tell you that the accused tried to touch the breast of a drunken minor.

Earlier, the Allahabad High Court had also given a similar order. The court said that it cannot be called rape or rape attempt to catch the breasts of the minor victim, break the pulse of her pajamas and to pull her down from the culvert. Justice Ram Manohar Narayan Mishra made this comment, partially accepting the criminal revision petition of Akash and two other accused in a case registered at Patiala police station in Kasganj.

The High Court said that on the basis of the allegations against the accused and the facts of the case, the crime of rape does not occur in the case. Instead, they can be called under Section 354 (B) of the IPC, which relates to attack or abuse with the intention of forcing the victim to nude or forcing him to naked, and can be called under Section 9 (M) of the Poxo Act.