Bombay HC raps trial judge over ‘utterly disrespectful’ slang words in a rape acquittal – Times of India

MUMBAI: Upholding an acquittal in a rape case, the Bombay high court has expressed displeasure over the use of slang and “foul” words by the sessions court in its judgment. A division bench of Justices Ravindra Ghuge and BU Debadwar said in the ruling on March 1 that the words used by the lower court judge were disrespectful to women.
The ruling of the HC became available on Thursday.
The Aurangabad bench of the high court was hearing an appeal filed by the Maharashtra government challenging an August 2012 judgment of a sessions court acquitting a 52- year-old man in a rape case.
“At the very outset, we need to record our strong displeasure about the choice of a particular word, which has been repeatedly used by the learned additional sessions judge SV Ranpise in the judgment,” the bench said.
The complainant woman, in her testimony in Marathi before the court, had not used any objectionable terms, but the judgement repeatedly used such a word, it said.
“These words are used in slang language, are treated to be foul words and are utterly disrespectful to women,” the judgment said.
The prosecution’s case was that the accused, who is related to the complainant, a married woman, raped her at her house in March 2010.
While dismissing the appeal against the man’s acquittal, the high court said that prosecution had failed to submit any evidence to prove his guilt.
(The victim’s identity has not been revealed to protect her privacy as per Supreme Court directives on cases related to sexual assault)