Supreme Court
New Delhi: Every day many cases of rape come to light in the country. But in most or almost all cases the accused is a man. But on Friday, a serious question arose before the Supreme Court whether a case of rape can be registered against a woman? That means a woman can be made an accused in a rape case under Section 375 of the IPC. Actually, this question came to light when a 62-year-old widow woman claimed that she has been unnecessarily implicated and a false rape case has been registered against her son.
According to Bar & Bench, the case came up before a bench of Justices Hrishikesh Roy and Sanjay Karol after the court expressed doubt over whether a woman could be booked for rape. “According to us, only one man can be charged,” the court said orally. The court issued the notice before adjourning the anticipatory bail plea filed by the widow in the case.
What is the whole matter?
The Supreme Court on Friday sought response from the Punjab Police on the plea of a 62-year-old widow, who was booked for rape on the complaint of her daughter-in-law. Appearing for the widowed woman petitioner, advocate Rishi Malhotra argued before a bench of Justices Hrishikesh Roy and Sanjay Karol that the Supreme Court had ruled that a case of gang rape cannot be registered against a woman and The core of this principle was that a woman cannot be made an accused in a rape case.
Actually, this case pertains to two sons and a daughter-in-law of a 62-year-old widowed woman. The daughter-in-law alleges that the widowed woman’s elder son living in America befriended her through Facebook and then both of them got married through video call. After marriage, the daughter-in-law started living with her mother-in-law. During this time, the woman’s younger son came from Portugal and stayed with them for some time.
According to the widowed woman, the daughter-in-law has filed charges of rape (section 376(2)(n) of IPC), wrongful confinement (section 342), causing hurt (section 323) and criminal intimidation (section 506) against the widow and her young son. A criminal case was registered against her alleging that the accused-widow and her son were involved in raping a woman earlier this year.
After this, a lower court of Punjab and the Punjab and Haryana High Court refused to accept the anticipatory bail plea of the widow. For this reason the widow approached the Supreme Court. After which the question arose whether a case of rape can be registered against a woman?
Let us tell you that Section 375 of the IPC defines the crime of rape. Its provision refers to a male as the culprit. Which means that generally only men can be booked for the crime of rape.
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