'Rakhi For Bail' Order : Attorney General Says Judges Should Avoid Patriarchal Approaches; Supreme Court Reserves Judgment

The Supreme Court on Wednesday reserved orders in a plea filed by eight lawyers which challenged a Madhya Pradesh High Court order wherein a bail condition had been imposed on the accused that he would be tied a Rakhi by his survivor whose modesty he had outraged.A Bench headed by Justice AM Khanwilkar was also adjudicating upon directions sought from the Apex Court against similar Orders which trivialize/tend to trivialize the occurrence of serious sexual offences against women and children. In today's hearing, the Court acknowledged the receipt of the written submissions of both Attorney-General KK Venugopal and Senior Advocate Sanjay Parikh, who was appearing on behalf of the Petitioners. The AG reiterated his submission that there was a need for all lawyers to undergo 2-3 years of training with regard to gender sensitization and for teachers to be dedicated to this subject. He further emphasized on the need of sensitization of Judges by the State Judicial Academies. "The patriarchal approach of these Judges, specially of the old school where women are stereotyped, needs to be avoided with training and sensitization", remarked the AG. Parikh agreed with the AG and mentioned to the Court certain stereotypes that had to be avoided – "Women are physically weaker, can't make decisions on their own, men are head of the household. These things remain in the minds of ordinary men and even Judges. These prejudices are ultimately reflected in the orders". Before concluding the hearing, the AG also stated that the Judge had to grace himself in the shoes of the survivor and to think whether he would pass such an Order if the survivor was a member of his own family. On that note, the Supreme Court proceeded to reserve the order in the matter. On 16th October, the Supreme Court had issued notice to the AG on the plea filed on behalf of Supreme Court Advocate Aparna Bhat and other lawyers through Advocate Pukhrambam Ramesh Kumar, which challenged the Madhya Pradesh High Court bail order and sought for a general direction to all High Courts to not pass such orders in the future. Subsequently, an Application was filed, seeking for directions from the Top Court and stating that it was becoming a frequent phenomenon where extraneous conditions/observations were being made in many cases related to women, which tended to trivialize the offences committed. The AG, on 2nd December, filed a response stating that improving the representation of women in the judiciary could go a long way toward a more balanced and empathetic approach in cases involving sexual violence.

'Rakhi For Bail' Order : Attorney General Says Judges Should Avoid Patriarchal Approaches; Supreme Court Reserves Judgment

Radhika Roy

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