The Karnataka High Court recently rejected bail to an accused in a rape case, referencing a quote by Mahatma Gandhi and a passage from Manusmriti, an ancient Hindu legal text.
The high court was considering the plea of a man from Mulbagal town in the Kolar district. He is the second accused in a case of alleged rape of a 19-year-old Scheduled Tribe (ST) woman from Banka in Bihar, whose parents work on a cardamom estate in Kerala.
According to the case details, while returning from Kerala, she got down at the K R Puram railway station in Bengaluru around 1.30 am on April 2. While heading towards Mahadevapura with her cousin for a meal, they were allegedly approached and assaulted by the petitioner and another man. The petitioner’s accomplice allegedly took her to a nearby location and raped her. The public apprehended the man who allegedly raped the woman after she cried for help, and the police later arrested both the accused.
The police booked them under sections 115(2) [voluntarily causing hurt], 126(2) [wrongful restraint], 351(2) [criminal intimidation], 351(3), 352, [intentional insult with the intent to provoke a breach of the public peace] 64 (rape) r/w Sections 3(5) [common intention] of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and under sections 3(1)(r), 3(1)(w)(i)(ii), 3(2)(v) of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
The petitioner argued before the court that he was falsely implicated in the case. His counsel stated that even as per the woman’s statement, he was holding her cousin, while it was the other accused who sexually assaulted her.
On the other hand, the prosecutor argued that the petitioner was constantly threatening the cousin and facilitating the act of the other accused. It was also asserted that bail should be rejected in this case to secure the minds of young women and the general public.
A single-judge bench of Justice S Rachaiah, in its September 4 order, recently made public, emphasised the impact the incident could have had on the woman. “The act committed by the accused, along with another accused, will remain in her life as a scar. It would be very difficult for her to come out of the agony that she had undergone.”
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“Having considered the same, it is relevant at this point of time to quote the sloka of Manusmriti which says ‘Yatra naryastu pujyante ramante tatra Devata, yatraitaastu na pujyante sarvaastatrafalaah kriyaah (where women are honoured, divinity blossoms there, and where women are dishonored, all actions, no matter how noble, remain unfruitful)’,” the bench added.
Rejecting the bail appeal, the bench also referenced a quotation attributed to Mahatma Gandhi: “The day a woman can walk freely on the road at night, that day we can say that India has achieved independence.”
The debate surrounding Manusmriti is often polarised in India. Some regard it as a sacred historical text, while others criticise it for allegedly endorsing caste hierarchy and promoting patriarchy.