"Stigma Has To Be On Perpetrator, Not Victim": Delhi High Court On Rape Case

The Delhi High Court has termed as "obnoxious" the submission of an accused that quashing rape proceedings against him would be in the interest of the minor victim who otherwise would have to face "stigma".

The stigma has to be not on the victim of the wrong but on the perpetrator of the wrong, the high court said, and imposed Rs 10,000 costs on the man.

"The counsel for the petitioner contends that quashing the present proceedings would be in the interest of the prosecutrix; otherwise, she would have to face stigma. I find this argument obnoxious, to say the least.

"The stigma has to be, not on the victim of the wrong, but on the perpetrator of the wrong. There has to be a paradigm shift in societal mindset by attaching stigma to the accused and not to the girl who underwent the horrid suffering by way of rape," Justice Girish Kathpalia said in a judgment passed on August 29.

The court refused to quash rape proceedings against the man and directed him to deposit Rs 10,000 costs with the Delhi High Court Legal Service Committee.

The court rejected the contention of the counsel for the accused that the parents of the victim had "settled" the matter with him.

"This argument is also completely devoid of merit. For it is the minor girl, and not her parents, who was wronged and suffered because of the alleged act on the part of the petitioner (accused).

"It is only the prosecutrix who could have pardoned the wrongdoer, that too in certain specific conditions. As mentioned above, the prosecutrix continues to be a minor girl," Justice Kathpalia said.

According to the FIR lodged in 2024, the girl was blackmailed into a physical relationship by the accused after making her video. A case of rape was registered against the man under the provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).

The man was on the run and has been declared a proclaimed offender. 

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