'No Foreign Expressions ' : Supreme Court Calls For Guidelines Rooted In Indian Social Fabric To Sensitise Judges On Sexual Offences

The Supreme Court has directed the National Judicial Academy to frame comprehensive draft guidelines to inculcate sensitivity and compassion in judicial handling of sexual offence cases, stressing that such norms must reflect India's social fabric and not be borrowed from foreign jurisdictions.A bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice NV Anjaria was hearing the suo motu case taken by the Supreme Court in 2025 over a controversial order passed by the Allahabad High Court, which had held that grabbing the breasts of a minor girl, breaking the string of her pyjama and trying to drag her beneath a culvert would not come under the offence of attempt to rape. The High Court had observed that the acts would prima facie constitute the offence of 'aggravated sexual assault' under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012, which carries a lesser punishment.While setting aside the High Court's order as erroneous, the Supreme Court considered the broader issue of laying down guidelines to ensure that Judges deal with sexual offences in a sensitive manner, without social prejudices and patriarchal notions.The bench noted that various steps have been taken by the Courts in the past, both on the judicial side as well as on the administrative side, to incluclate such sensitivity; however, those efforts do not seem to have have yielded the expected results.NJA To Constitute Expert CommitteeHence, the Court requested Justice Aniruddha Bose, former judge of the Supreme Court and Director of the National Judicial Academy Bhopa, to constitute a Committee of Experts to deliberate upon "Developing Guidelines to Inculcate Sensitivity and Compassion into Judges and Judicial Processes in the Context of Sexual Offences and other Vulnerable Cases".Mandate of the CommitteeThe committee shall be headed by Justice Bose as its Chairperson and comprise four other domain experts, including practitioners, academicians, and social workers, as its members. "The Committee shall consider the previous measures undertaken, whether on the judicial side or the administrative side, to achieve such goals, as well as the varying results seen on the ground through the implementation of such measures. Further, after taking into account such previous endeavours and the variety of on-ground experiences faced by different stakeholders across the judicial system, prepare comprehensive recommendations."These recommendations shall be in the form of 'Draft Guidelines for the Approach of Judges and the Judicial System When Dealing with Cases of Sexual Offences and other Similarly Sensitive Occurrences Involving Vulnerable Victims, Complainants, and/or Witnesses'.The committee shall consider the linguistic diversity. "There are various examples of offensive words and expressions, the use of which would ordinarily constitute an offence under our penal laws, but they are openly spoken by members of our society in local dialects, ostensibly because of the absence of a clear understanding of the offensive nature of such saying. It shall be highly appreciated if the Committee, as a part of its report, is able to identify and compile such words/expressions, from different languages, so that they do not go unnoticed, and the complainants/victims are empowered to give a better and fuller narrative of the trauma undergone by them."The bench has requested that the committee bear in mind that the primary beneficiaries of these guidelines would be the victims/complainants. Therefore, it must be drafted to ensure that it is well-understood, irrespective of background and should be in simple language. It should not be loaded with heavy foreign langauge and if possible, the committee may consider preparing translated versions.Eschew foreign conceptsThe judgment authored by CJI Kant recommended that the guidelines must reflect the Indian social ethos, eshewing expressions borrowed from foreign jurisdictions."we recommend that the Committee of Experts prepare, preferably the entire report, and in any case at least the draft guidelines, in simple language comprehensible to laypersons, whose interests the guidelines seek to protect. The guidelines, we expect, will not be loaded with heavy, complicated expressions borne from foreign languages and jurisdictions. They must be contextualised in the real and lived experience of the stakeholders in Indian judicial process, with direct reference to the ethos, values, and social fabric of our country."During the hearing, CJI Kant had orally commented that the handbook prepared by the Supreme Court in 2023 to deal with gender stereotypes was a bit "Harvard-oriented".The bench directed the Registry to forward a copy of the judgment to Justice Bose and request him to constitute the committee within two weeks. Lastly, the committee shall be paid honorarium as decided by Justice Bose, for which necessary funds will be provided by the Supreme Court. The committee shall...

'No Foreign Expressions ' : Supreme Court Calls For Guidelines Rooted In Indian Social Fabric To Sensitise Judges On Sexual Offences

Gursimran Kaur Bakshi

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