NCW chief Vijaya Rahatkar calls for gender-sensitive justice, upholding women's dignity

New Delhi, October 17 (IANS): National Commission for Women (NCW) Chairperson Vijaya Rahatkar on Saturday shared insights on gender-sensitive justice and the need for consistency, sensitivity and compassion, referring to two High Court decisions related to sexual offences against women in which the gravity of crimes appeared to have been diluted.In a post on social media platform X, Rahatkar shared details of the two cases in which the accused's offences were interpreted under less severe penal provisions by the High Courts, rejecting pleas to convict them for "attempt to commit rape".THE NCW Chief said, "Justice must be guided by law and evidence, while its language and reasoning must uphold the dignity of every survivor. Gender-sensitive adjudication is essential to strengthening public confidence in the justice system."Rahatkar added, "The National Commission for Women recognises that every case must be decided on its own facts, circumstances, evidence and applicable law. At the same time, these judgments highlight the importance of clarity and consistency in applying the legal distinction between 'preparation' and 'attempt' in sexual offences."One of the cases cited by the NCW chairperson was Md. Ainul Haque versus State of Bihar case from the Patna High Court. The other was from the Allahabad High Court.In the Patna High Court case, the order said, "The act of the appellant in entering, late at night, in the dwelling house of a widow who was sleeping, extinguishing the lamp, lying upon her person and pressing her mouth" was sufficient to establish an offence under Section 354 IPC (outraging modesty). However, in the absence of evidence of undressing or any act towards penetration, the act did not amount to an attempt to commit rape (IPC Section 376 read with Section 511)."The other case, arose from the Allahabad High Court's order relating to the alleged act of pulling a victim's pyjama drawstring, which prompted the Supreme Court to initiate suo motu proceedings, the NCW Chief said.Rahatkar also drew attention towards the National Judicial Academy's published handbook, "Judgments and Gender: Sensitivity and Compassion in Writing Judgments", calling for the need for strengthening gender-sensitive judicial reasoning and language.The NCW Chairperson pointed to the key principles incorporated in the handbook that include: Understanding evidence in the context of the trauma experienced by survivors; avoiding language that stereotypes, stigmatises or undermines a survivor's dignity and recognising sexual offences as violations of bodily autonomy, personal dignity and individual rights, rather than viewing them through notions of chastity, family honour or morality.Advocating sensitivity in judicial language, Rahatkar said that gender-sensitive judgments must communicate with fairness, dignity and empathy and treating survivors of sexual violence with respect and compassion, without implying that they are responsible for the offence committed against them.