Shyam Narain vs.The State of NCT of Delhi, Criminal Appeal No. 1860 of 2010, Decided on May 15,
2013
The Hon'ble Court observed:
“Respect for reputation of
women in the society shows the basic civility of a civilised society. No member
of society can afford to conceive the idea that he can create a hollow in the
honour of a woman. Such thinking is not only lamentable but also deplorable. It
would not be an exaggeration to say that the thought of sullying the physical
frame of a woman is the demolition of the accepted civilized norm, i.e., “physical
morality”. In such a sphere, impetuosity has no room. The youthful excitement
has no place. It should be paramount in everyone’s mind that, on one hand, the
society as a whole cannot preach from the pulpit about social, economic and
political equality of the sexes and, on the other, some pervert members of the
same society dehumanize the woman by attacking her body and ruining her chastity.
It is an assault on the individuality and inherent dignity of a woman with the
mindset that she should be elegantly servile to men. Rape is a monstrous burial
of her dignity in the darkness. It is a crime against the holy body of a woman
and the soul of the society and such a crime is aggravated by the manner in
which it has been committed”.
The Hon’ble
court noted the following case laws:
Madan Gopal
Kakkad v. Naval Dubey and Another (1992) 3 SCC 204, it has been observed as
follows:-
“... though all sexual assaults on female children are not reported
and do not come to light yet there is an alarming and shocking increase of
sexual offences committed on children. This is due to the reasons that children
are ignorant of the act of rape and are not able to offer resistance and become
easy prey for lusty brutes who display the unscrupulous, deceitful and
insidious art of luring female children and young girls. Therefore, such
offenders who are menace to the civilized society should be mercilessly and inexorably
punished in the severest terms.”
State of Punjab
v. Gurmit Singh and others AIR 1996 SC 1393, the Court stated with anguish that
crime against women in general and rape in particular is on the increase. The
learned Judges proceeded further to state that it is an irony that while we are
celebrating women’s rights in all spheres, we show little or no concern for her
honour. It is a sad reflection of the attitude of indifference of the society
towards the violation of human dignity of the victims of sex crimes.
Thereafter, the Court observed the effect of rape on a victim with anguish: -
“We must remember that a rapist not only violates the victim’s
privacy and personal integrity, but inevitably causes serious psychological as
well as physical harm in the process. Rape is not merely a physical assault –it
is often destructive of the whole personality of the victim. A murderer
destroys the physical body of his victim, a rapist degrades the very soul of
the helpless female.”
In Jugendra
Singh v. State of Uttar Pradesh (2012) 6 SCC 297, while dwelling upon the
gravity of the crime of rape, the Court had expressed thus: -
“Rape or an attempt to rape is a crime not against an individual but
a crime which destroys the basic equilibrium of the social atmosphere. The
consequential death is more horrendous. It is to be kept in mind that an
offence against the body of a woman lowers her dignity and mars her reputation.
It is said that one’s physical frame is his or her temple. No one has any right
of encroachment. An attempt for the momentary pleasure of the accused has
caused the death of a child and had a devastating effect on her family and, in
the ultimate eventuate, on the collective at large. When a family suffers in
such a manner, the society as a whole is compelled to suffer as it creates an incurable
dent in the fabric of the social milieu.”
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