CJI Bobde says that according to the recent media reports, a rapist asked his victim to marry
Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sharad A. Bobde said on Monday that the Supreme Court, as an institution, had the highest regard for femininity and recent media reports cited her as asking a rapist to marry her victim.
The CJI clarified the situation on International Women’s Day while hearing a petition seeking termination of pregnancy by a 14-year-old rape victim.
On March 1, during a virtual hearing, several media outlets asked the CJI’s lawyer for the rape accused to find out if his client would be willing to marry the victim or risk the possibility of going to jail. The lawyer returned later in the day and said that his client had refused because he was already married.
On Monday, the CJI said that some people were out to tarnish the image of the judiciary and a counter mechanism needs to be put in place.
The bench said that the reputation of the judiciary is in the hands of the bar.
‘Out of context’
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta stated that the CJI’s remarks on March 1 are indeed out of context.
A wave of outrage sparked after the CJI’s alleged remarks. According to the prosecution, the accused repeatedly raped the girl while she was in high school.
On Monday, the CJI clarified that his oral remarks, again on March 1, during the hearing of another case in which a man had also misinterpreted a man accused of making false promises of marriage to a woman.
The accused had told the court that he was implicated. They said they were in a live-in relationship and accused him of rape when their relationship soured. Their intercourse during the period was consensual. His arrest was stayed by the court.
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