SC upholds MP HC judgement against rapist

New Delhi, Mar 20 (UNI) The Supreme Court has upheld Madhya Pradesh High Court judgement against a man found guilty of raping a poor woman.

The appellant Ram Kripal, hailing from Satna district in Madhya Pradesh, had ravished a poor girl after she refused to have any physical relationship with him. He also induced her to not reveal the incident to her mother by offering her Rs 10.

A Bench, comprising Mr Justices Arijit Pasayat and S H Kapadia, in a judgement delivered yesterday, upheld the judgement of Madhya Pradesh High court as well as that of trial court, sentencing Ram Kripal to seven years imprisonment.

The apex court ruled ''what constitutes an outrage to female modesty is nowhere defined in IPC. The essence of a woman's modesty is her sex. The culpable intention of the accused is the crux of the matter. The reaction of the woman is very relevant but its absence is not always decisive. Modesty in this section is an attribute associated with female human beings as a class. It is a virtue which attaches to a female owing to her sex.

The act of pulling a woman, removing her sari, coupled with a request for sexual intercourse, is such as would be an outrage to the modesty of a woman; and knowledge that modesty is likely to be outraged is sufficient to constitute the offence without any deliberate intention having such outrage alone for its object.'' The court also distinguished between intention and attempt to commit an offence by holding that mere intention not followed by any action does not constitute an offence.

UNI