NEW DELHI, Mar 8: The chief justice of India S A Bobde has blamed the media for misreporting creating a controversy over his asking a rape accused if he was ready to marry the victim or go to jail.
During the hearing of a case in the Supreme Court of a 14 year old rape victim seeking the court’s permission for termination of 26-week old pregnancy, justice Bobde sought to clear his alleged controversial remark on the international women’s day on Monday.
“As an institution and as a bench in this court, we have always had the highest respect for the womanhood. This court has always given the largest respect to women. We never asked the accused to marry the girl. We asked him ‘Are you going to marry her’. There was complete misreporting of what we said,” observed the CJI referring to his alleged controversial remarks in the court on March 1 that attracted nation-wide criticism from many sections including lawyers and women’s rights activists.
Seeking to dispel the controversy, Justice Bobde pointed out that his questions to the lawyer for the accused were in the facts of that case but there was misreporting by the media
On March 1, during a virtual hearing, several media outlets reported the CJI asking a rape accused’s lawyer to find out whether his client would be willing to marry the victim or risk the prospect of going to jail. The lawyer came back later in the day and said his client had declined as he was already married.
Solicitor general Tushar Mehta, who was present during the proceedings, supported the CJI, saying the court’s poser during the hearing on March 1 were completely in sync with Section 165 of the Evidence Act, which empowered judges to ask questions in order to discover or to obtain proper proof of relevant facts in a case.
Mehta said the court’s questions were justified in the facts of that case but the comments were widely reported out of the context. At this, the CJI said: “Our reputation is always at the hands of the Bar.”
The CJI said certain people were out to tarnish the image of the judiciary and a counter mechanism need to be set up.
The plea by the minor, who underwent medical examination at a hospital in Haryana as regards to feasibility of the termination of her pregnancy, was adjourned to Friday on a request by her counsel VK Biju.
After going through the medical report which was submitted confidentially, the bench, which also included justices AS Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian, said it would wish to speak to the minor’s parents.
When advocate Biju said that the Supreme Court had been very generous to the girl, the CJI replied: “It is good to hear that. We have heard the exact opposite in the last two weeks.”
Another case concerning a man accused of falsely promising marriage to a woman was also misinterpreted and had sparked off a similar controversy.
The accused had approached the court saying he was framed. He said they were in a live-in relationship and she had accused him of rape when their relationship turned sour. Their sexual intercourse during the period was consensual. The court had stayed his arrest.
(Manas Dasgupta)