Nirbhaya Case Advocate Files PIL, Asks SC To Look Into #MeToo Cases

Advocate Manohar Lal Sharma filed a PIL today in the Supreme Court, urging it to take note of the stories of sexual harassment from the #MeToo movement. In the petition, Sharma has sought that the court take suo motu action in cases of sexual harassment and record the statements made by survivors on social media as part of #MeToo movement, Bar And Bench reported.

He has asked the court to record accounts of the women who spoke up and accused several men of sexual harassment, under Section 154 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC). It said that law-enforcing agencies should file FIRs and criminal cases against the alleged harassers.

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Sharma has also appealed for fast-track courts to conduct trials of sexual harassment cases and for authorities to provide a safe platform for survivors to register their complaints while protecting their identity. While the advocate wished for urgent hearing in the matter, the apex court said today that the matter will come up for hearing in due course.

Sharma has asked the court to record accounts of the women who spoke up and accused several men of sexual harassment, under Section 154 of the Code of Criminal Procedure

Sharma is the same advocate who defended the rapists in the Nirbhaya gang rape case of 2012. He made some sweeping comments during the trial of the case that created controversies and earned him flak. One of his controversial comments was, “All the (rape) cases that come in the courts these days, 90 percent of them are fake. And the other 10 percent, they have to prove it. You have to see if the girl put herself in the circumstances,” said Sharma in an intewrview with News Laundry.

His analogy for rape is, “Suppose you have box of sweets and you keep them in front of your house. What will happen? Street dogs will come and finish it off. But if you keep the same box of sweets in your fridge, will the street dogs be able to finish it off?”

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