Rape Survivor Faces Dual Crises, Crime Wounds Her Dignity & Trial Forces Her To Relive Traumatic Experience: Allahabad HC

The Allahabad High Court has observed that a woman who is raped undergoes two crises- the commission of a crime, where her dignity is wounded and her sense of security is destroyed and the subsequent trial, where she is forced to relive the traumatic experience. While the first seriously wounds her dignity, curbs her individual, destroys her sense of security and may often ruin her physically, the second is no less potent of mischief inasmuch as it not only force her to relive through the traumatic experience, but also does so in the glare of publicity in a totally alien atmosphere, with the whole apparatus and paraphernalia of the criminal justice system focused upon her,” a bench of Justice Sanjay Kumar Singh observed in an order passed on Tuesday denying bail to a man accused of raping a minor girl. It degrades and humiliates the victim and where the victim is a helpless innocent child, it leaves behind a traumatic experience,” the bench noted in its order. Seeking bail in the case, the applicant's counsel argued that the DNA tests had confirmed that the applicant and the victim were the biological parents of the victim's child and on July 30, 2024, the applicant was granted interim bail after expressing willingness to marry the victim and take responsibility for the child.