SC Sets Aside MP High Court's Order That Had 'Tying Rakhi' As Molester's Bail Condition

MP court rakhi order: The Supreme Court on Thursday cancelled an order by the Madhya Pradesh High Court from last year that mentioned the 'tying of rakhi' by the survivor to the accused molester as a bail condition for the latter. The SC's decision comes after nine women lawyers petitioned against the MP court's judgment in the sexual assault case.

As per

Supreme Court sets aside Madhya Pradesh High Court’s order & allows appeal filed by a group of women lawyers questioning a direction of the High Court that the accused should get 'Rakhi' tied on his hand by the victim, as a prerequisite condition of bail in sexual offences. pic.twitter.com/xg801XIc7l

— ANI (@ANI) March 18, 2021 the apex court has upheld that stereotypes must be avoided and that getting 'rakhi' tied cannot be a bail prerequisite to bail. Lower courts have also been directed to adhere to certain guidelines while issuing bail orders when hearing cases of sexual offence crimes against women.

Scrapping the MP court's order, SC has importantly upheld, "Bail conditions should not mandate contact between the accused and the victim" and protect the complainant from further harassment.

Supreme Court sets aside Madhya Pradesh High Court’s order & allows appeal filed by a group of women lawyers questioning a direction of the High Court that the accused should get 'Rakhi' tied on his hand by the victim, as a prerequisite condition of bail in sexual offences. pic.twitter.com/xg801XIc7l

— ANI (@ANI) March 18, 2021

MP Court Rakhi Order Scrapped After Women Lawyers Object

The bail order for the accused was passed on July 30, 2020, by the MP court. The man was charged under section 354 of the Indian Penal Code for outraging a woman’s modesty after attempting to enter her house in Ujjain on April 20. In its judgment, the MP court observed, "The applicant, along with his wife shall visit the house of the complainant with Rakhi thread on August 3, 2020, at 11 AM with a box of sweets and request the complainant to tie the Rakhi band to him with the promise to protect her to the best of his ability for all times to come."

Following the MP court's observations last year, a group of nine women lawyers led by SC advocate Aparna Bhat had moved the apex court to examine the judgment, which had by then, also received widespread criticism from the public.

The lawyers' plea in court mentioned that "there is a strong likelihood that such observations and directions may result in normalizing what is essentially a crime and has been recognized to be so by the law."

Attorney-General KK Venugopal had consequently made submissions to the SC, saying, "Judges who are from old school and patriarchal need to be sensitised."