The Allahabad High Court has directed a trial court to alter summons sent to two accused facing charges for allegedly raping a minor, to alter its summons noting mere “grabbing a minor’s breast or breaking pyjama string” do not constitute the offence of rape.
Hearing a plea filed by the accused Pawan and Akash, seeking to alter charges against them, a bench led by Justice Ram Manohar Narayan Mishra noted the facts in the case were not sufficient to draw an inference that the accused persons were determined to commit the crime. The accused were charged under section 376 IPC for rape and section 18 under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, attempting to commit an offence.
The High Court altered the charges and reduced the offence to section 354B IPC, assault or use of criminal force with intent to disrobe, along with Sections 9/10 of the POCSO Act, aggravated sexual assault, Bar and Bench reported. “The allegation against accused Pawan and Akash is that they grabbed the breasts of the victim and Akash tried to bring down the lower garment of the victim and for that purpose they had broken string of her lower garments and tried to drag her beneath the culvert, but due to intervention of witnesses they left the victim and fled away from the place of incident,” Bar and Bench reported quoting the Court.
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“This fact is not sufficient to draw an inference that the accused persons had determined to commit rape on the victim as apart from these facts no other act is attributed to them to further their alleged desire to commit rape on the victim,” it added.
The bench noted that there was no evidence to suggest that the accused intended to rape the victim. “There is no allegation that the accused tried to commit penetrative sexual assault against the victim,” the bench observed. The High Court directed the trial court to alter the sections and issue fresh summons to the accused.
