Woman Can't Be Held Guilty Under Gender-Specific Rape Laws, Says Calcutta HC

On July 26, the Calcutta High Court said that a woman can never be held liable for rape charges under section 354A. The court said that the law is gender specific and only a man can be responsible for the crime. The court made this decision while hearing a petition of a woman alleging that the complainant man was falsely dragging her into rape charges. 

As per the reports, the petitioner's father molested the complainant's mother. The woman and her father (the main accused) were among the four accused of molesting the mother and intimidating her against filing any complaint. 

The woman denies the allegations

However, the woman denied every allegation against her. She said there were no specific allegations against her and she had no involvement in the alleged crime. 

Her lawyer too argued that section 354A of IPC doesn't hold a woman responsible for rape. It specifically mentions "a man" responsible for crime. The advocate further said that the allegations made against his client were not clear and did not amount to charges of section 354A of IPC. 

The court's statement

Hearing the proceedings, the court headed by Ajay Kumar Gupta said, "It can be safely accepted that a female cannot be an accused under Section 354A of the IPC as is evident from very terminology as used in the said enactment. This offence is gender specific and only a male can be prosecuted under this offence."

The judge further added that a woman cannot be held guilty for rape and other crimes listed under section 354A of IPC because "of the specific words ‘a man’" used in the Section 354A sub-sections (1), (2) and (3) of the IPC. 

Justice Gupta said that the codes of criminal law must be strictly followed.

No misuse of law

"If two possible and reasonable constructions can be put upon a penal provision, the Court must lean towards that construction which exempts the subject from penalty rather than the one which imposes penalty. It is not competent to the court to stretch the meaning of an expression used by the Legislature in order to carry out the intention of the Legislature,” the court said. 

The court found the allegations made against the woman baseless and unclear. Justice Gupta said that the allegations were just "an attempt to involve her out of spite and personal grudges against the accused."

Adding further, the court said that it will use the inherent power invested in it under section Section 482 of the CrPC to prevent the misuse of legal help.