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Showing contexts for: rape case in Aparna Bhat vs The State Of Madhya Pradesh on 18 March, 2021Matching Fragments
or affects the conduct of the trial in a fair and unbiased manner. They highlight that the impugned order, while granting bail, imposed a condition that the applicant shall visit the house of the complainant. The appellants submit that this is unacceptable and no observation/condition should be made which permits the accused to meet/have access to the survivor and her family members.
9. The appellants also cite Mohan v. State10, where the Madras High Court had referred the case of rape of a minor to mediation and observed that the case was fit for attempting a compromise between the parties. Likewise, Samuvel v. Inspector of Police11is cited, where the High Court of Madras referred to mediation, a case of rape where the prosecutrix was a minor and had become a mother of a child as a consequence of rape, because the accused agreed to marry her. It is urged that no observation/condition should be made which initiates or encourages compromise that disparages and downgrades an otherwise heinous crime thus indicating that such offences are remediable by way of a compromise/ by marriage.
10. Sopikul Sk. @ Safikul Islam v. State,12 an order of the High Court of Calcutta in a POCSO case granting bail is cited; here, relief was given to the accused since the prosecutrix had attained majority and the accused intended to marry her. Further, in the case of Gyanaranjan Behera v. State of Odisha,13 the Orissa High Court in a POCSO case granted interim bail to the accused for the purpose of marrying the prosecutrix. In Suraj Kushwah v. State of M.P,14the Madhya Pradesh High Court granted temporary bail to the accused for a crime under sections 376 (2)(n), 506 IPC read with Sections 3(1) (W-II), 3(2)(V), 3(2)(v-a) of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 for the purpose of solemnizing marriage with the prosecutrix. The appellants submit that in POCSO and rape cases, no observation/condition 10 M.P No. 2/2014 in Crl. A No. 402/2014 order dated 18.06.2015 11Crl. O.P. No. 1881/2015.
29. The decision in Ramphal v. State of Haryana27 by order dated 27.11.2019, took note of the compromise between the survivor and accused persons but found that such compromise is of no relevance when deciding on rape and cases of sexual assault.
“It is brought to our notice that during the pendency of the appeals, both the appellants have paid Rs. 1.5 lakhs each in favor of the prosecutrix and she has accepted the same willingly for getting the matter compromised. However, it is imperative to emphasize that we do not accept such compromise in matters relating to the offence of rape and similar cases of sexual assault. Hence, the aforesaid compromise is of no relevance in deciding this matter. On merits, we do not find any ground to interfere in as much as the evidence of the prosecutrix is coupled with the medical evidence which clearly proves that the offence of rape has been committed. Therefore, the Trial Court and the High Court have rightly convicted the accused/appellants.”
30. Empirically, the statistics regarding certain kinds of crimes against women have not shown any significant decline. In states and union territories, 32033 rape cases (under Section 376 IPC) were registered in 2019; 4038 cases of attempt to rape were registered the same year (under Section 376 read with Section 511, IPC). As many as 88,387 cases under Section 354 IPC were registered the same year, whereas 6939 cases were registered under Section 509 (outraging the modesty of a woman) in 2019. In all, a total of 4, 05,861 crimes against women were reported in 2019 (as against 359849 in 2017 and 378236 in 2018). The statistic for a relatively new species of offensive activities, cybercrimes that are women-centric, such as Transmitting of Sexually Explicit Material (Sec. 67A/67B, Information Technology Act), Blackmailing Defamation/Morphing/creating Fake Profile etc) registered in 2019, were 1645. POCSO offences, where girl children were victims, reported in 2019 were 46,005.28 The role of the courts and law enforcement agencies as neutral authorities, under a duty to ensure fairness 28https://ncrb.gov.in/sites/default/files/CII%202019%20Volume%201.pdf