Rape violates human rights of victim: Supreme Court

Rape as an assault on human rights and personal sovereignty of a woman, the Supreme Court has said that no sympathy should be shown to persons committing such heinous crime.

A bench of Justices Dipak Misra and Prafulla C Pant awarded 10-year imprisonment to two convicts for raping their 14-year niece in Sirsa in Haryana. It said that case depicts a sordid situation where the relatives betrayed the trust of a minor girl who was subjected to gang rape.

"It has to be borne in mind that an offence of rape is basically an assault on the human rights of a victim. It is an attack on her individuality. It creates an incurable dent in her right and free will and personal sovereignty over the physical frame. Everyone in any civilized society has to show respect for the other individual and no individual has any right to invade on physical frame of another in any manner," it said.

The court that there is no justification for awarding lesser punishment as they had taken advantage of their social relationship with the victim who innocently trusted them.

"It is not only an offence but such an act creates a scar in the marrows of the mind of the victim. Anyone who indulges in a crime of such nature not only does he violate the penal provision of the IPC but also right of equality, right of individual identity and in the ultimate eventuality an important aspect of rule of law which is a constitutional commitment," it said.

"The perpetrators of the crime must realize that when they indulge in such an offence, they really create a concavity in the dignity and bodily integrity of an individual which is recognized, assured and affirmed by the very essence of Article 21 of the Constitution," it said.

The court also turned down the plea of convicts who submitted that the victim was above 16-years of age and she consented to get into physical relation with them.

"The mental and physical condition of a young girl under the dominion of two grown up males who had become slaves of their prurient attitude can be well imagined. The consent, apart from legal impressibility, cannot be conceived of," it said.