New Delhi:

Gender neutrality is the hallmark of a fair justice delivery system and crimes involving serious bodily injuries must be firmly dealt with, irrespective of the perpetrator being a man or a woman, the Delhi High Court has said.

Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma made the observation while dismissing the anticipatory bail plea of a woman accused of burning her husband with boiling water mixed with chilli powder.

“The hallmark of a fair and just justice delivery system is to remain gender-neutral while adjudicating cases of such nature as the present one. In case a woman causes such injuries, a special class cannot be created for her,” the court said.

Crimes involving the infliction of life-threatening bodily injuries, it said, must be dealt with firmly, irrespective of whether the perpetrator was a man or a woman as the life and dignity of every individual, regardless of gender, were equally precious.

The court called out the “stereotype” of men not being the victim in domestic relationships, and said empowerment of one gender could not come at the cost of unfairness towards another and men too were entitled to the same legal safeguards.

“Men who are victims of violence at the hands of their wives often face unique difficulties, including societal disbelief and the stigma associated with being perceived as a victim. Such stereotypes perpetuate the erroneous belief that men cannot suffer violence in domestic relationships,” said the court’s judgement on January 22.

It rejected the woman’s plea for leniency on the ground of her gender and said creating a special class of leniency for one gender would erode the foundational principles of justice in cases of life threatening bodily injuries.

Refusing pre-arrest bail, the court said the intent to cause grievous harm or even death in the present case was apparent from the circumstances.

“This court wonders that in case the roles were reversed, and had the husband poured boiling water mixed with chilli powder on his wife while she was asleep, locked her inside the room, after doing so, would have taken her phone and fled from the spot, leaving their infant child crying beside her, it would have been undoubtedly argued that no mercy should be shown to him. However, the courts cannot let hidden or apparent biases guide them,” it observed.

The court observed the accused failed to join the investigation and the man’s phone had to be recovered, among other things.

“No ground for grant of anticipatory bail is made out,” it held.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

The Delhi High Court has significantly held the consent to have sex doesn’t allow capturing private moments and posting it on social media.

Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma while dismissing the bail application by a rape accused said consent did not extend to permitting misuse and exploitation of private images.

“Even if the consent for sexual relations had been given at any point in time by the complainant, such consent cannot, in any manner, be construed as consent to capture and post her inappropriate videos on social media platforms. Consent to engage in physical relations does not extend to the misuse or exploitation of a person’s private moments or their depiction in an inappropriate and derogatory manner,” the court held in a January 17 verdict.

The accused, in the present case, alleged it was a case of a “long friendly relationship” turning sour owing to the woman failing to repay a loan he gave her.

Refusing to grant any reprieve, the court said even if the initial sexual relationship between the parties was consensual, the alleged subsequent acts of the accused were “clearly rooted in coercion and blackmail”.

“While the first sexual encounter may have been consensual, the subsequent ones were allegedly based on blackmail, with the accused taking advantage of the videos to exert control over the complainant. The accused’s actions in preparing the videos and using them to manipulate and sexually exploit the complainant prima-facie reflects a strategy of abuse and exploitation, transcending any initial consensual interaction,” it said.

It prima facie appeared that the accused had exploited his relationship under the guise of a loan transaction but such an arrangement — even between friends — did not entitle one party to exploit the other’s vulnerability or dignity, the court said.

The court rejected the accused’s plea that being married, the woman was mature enough to understand the significance of her actions, and said an “attempt to weaponise” her marital status and professional background to diminish the gravity of the allegations was “unacceptable”.

The mere fact that, said the court, the complainant worked in a massage parlour could not be used to diminish the seriousness of the alleged offences committed against her when there was no evidence of her engaging in illicit or unlawful activities.

The complainant alleged she was lured by the accused who also gave her Rs 3.5 lakh in loan to enrol in a course but subsequently began blackmailing her to comply with his sexual demands.

She alleged by 2023 end, the accused came to Delhi and showed an allegedly objectionable video of her on his cellphone and forced her to have sex for two days while threatening to make the videos public.

He reportedly posted the content on social media platforms such as Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)