The Supreme Court has ruled that a woman cannot be prosecuted for a gang rape offence even if she had facilitated the crime.
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has ruled that a woman cannot be prosecuted for a gang rape offence even if she had facilitated the crime.
"A bare reading of Section 375 of the IPC (Indian Penal Code) makes the position clear that rape can be committed only by a man," a bench of judges Arijit Pasayat and S H Kapadia said while delivering the judgement on Wednesday.
Writing the judgement, Justice Pasayat noted that according to the explanation in Section 376 (2), "when a woman is raped by one or more in a group of persons acting in furtherance of their common intention, each such person shall be deemed to have committed gang rape within this subsection. That cannot make a woman guilty of committing rape. This is conceptually inconceivable."
In the case before the bench, one Priya Patel was charged with the offence of gang rape along with her husband Bhanupratap Patel.
According to the chargesheet, when Bhanupratap was committing the crime, Priya went to the room and the victim asked her for help. However, she slapped the victim and bolted the room from outside and left the place.
The husband and wife were charged with the offence of gang rape under Section 376(2)(g) of the IPC. Priya Patel challenged the charge by the trial court.
The Madhya Pradesh High Court had dismissed her revision petition holding that though a woman could not commit rape, charges under Section 376(2) could apply if she facilitated the act of rape. Her appeal in the apex court was directed against this order.
Allowing the appeal, the bench referred to the state's contention that the couple had a common intention.
"A woman cannot be said to have an intention to commit rape. The counsel for the appellant is right in her submission that she cannot be prosecuted for alleged commission of the offence punishable under Section 376(2)(g)," the bench said and quashed the charges framed against the appellant.
On whether she could be charged for abetment of crime, the bench said it was for the concerned court to decide if it was permissible in law.
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