It is generally a man who is the perpetrator of rape or sexual violence but in an unusual case, a 61-year-old woman has moved the Supreme Court for protection after being accused of rape.
The issue came up before the Supreme Court which agreed to examine it after the woman petitioned for anticipatory bail in a rape case.
The woman has been implicated in a case filed by her daughter-in-law.
Hearing her plea, a two-judge bench of the top court, headed by Justice Hrishikesh Roy and also comprising Justice Sanjay Karol, granted the woman protection from arrest and directed her to cooperate with the investigation.
The apex court had also asked the Punjab government to respond to the plea filed by the woman.
“Issue notice, returnable in four weeks. In the meantime, the petitioner (61-year-old woman) is protected from arrest. But she is expected to cooperate with the investigation of the crime,” the bench said.
According to the case, the complainant was initially in a long-distance relationship with the US-based elder son of the woman, a widow, but the complainant and woman's son had never met in person.
The FIR (First Information Report) further stated that the complainant started living with the widow after entering into wedlock with her son at a virtual marriage ceremony.
Later, the younger son of the widow visited them from Portugal. The widow has claimed that after the arrival of her younger son, the complainant and her family pressured her to end the informal marriage with her elder son. When the younger son was about to leave for Portugal, the complainant insisted that he take her along but he left alone.
When the matter got worse and as tension mounted between the two families, a compromise was arrived at and the widow gave the complainant Rs 11 lakh to end the marriage with her elder son.
The complainant then approached the local police and lodged an FIR against the widow and her younger son, accusing them of rape and other charges.
Advocate Rishi Malhotra, appearing for the woman, argued before the court that a woman cannot be charged with rape, citing various Supreme Court judgements.
He also said that the charges in the FIR against the accused woman are bailable barring the charge under Section 376 (2) (Repeated Rape) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
