Greater than 5,000 signal petition demanding Chief Justice Sharad Arvind Bobde give up for telling accused rapist to marry schoolgirl sufferer to keep away from jail.
India’s high choose is dealing with calls to resign after asking an accused rapist whether or not he would marry his schoolgirl sufferer to keep away from jail.
Chief Justice Sharad Arvind Bobde instructed an accused rapist at a listening to: “If you wish to marry (her), we may help you. If not, you lose your job and go to jail.”
Bobde’s feedback sparked a furore and prompted ladies’s rights activists to flow into an open letter calling for his resignation, which has secured greater than 5,200 signatures, campaigner Vani Subramanian mentioned on Wednesday.
Based on the letter, the person is accused of stalking, tying up, gagging and repeatedly raping the lady 4 years in the past earlier than threatening to douse her in petrol, set her alight and have her brother killed.
“By suggesting that this rapist marry the victim-survivor, you, the Chief Justice of India, sought to sentence the victim-survivor to a lifetime of rape by the hands of the tormentor who drove her to aim suicide,” the letter mentioned.
India’s abysmal report on sexual violence has been the main focus of worldwide consideration because the 2012 gang rape and homicide of a scholar on a bus in New Delhi sparked nationwide protests.
Victims are frequently subjected to sexist remedy by the hands of police and the courts, together with being inspired to marry their attackers in so-called compromise options.
The letter additionally drew consideration to a different listening to on Monday throughout which Bobde reportedly questioned whether or not intercourse between a married couple might ever be thought-about rape.
“The husband could also be a brutal man, however are you able to name the act of sexual activity between a lawfully wedded man and spouse as rape?” he mentioned.
“This remark not solely legitimises any type of sexual, bodily and psychological violence by the husband, however it normalises the torture that Indian ladies have been dealing with inside marriages for years with none authorized recourse,” the letter by the rights campaigners mentioned.
Marital rape just isn’t a criminal offense in India.
Bobde has not responded to the criticism. His predecessor Ranjan Gogoi was the highest-profile determine in India to face a #MeToo backlash after he was accused by a former staffer of sexual assault.
Gogoi was cleared in 2019 after an in-house inquiry, prompting protests within the nation.
