Mathura - The Minor who brought about a major change
On the night of 26th March, 1972, Mathura, a tribal girl, was called to the police station on account of her brother lodging a complaint against her boyfriend. The officers at the station raped her and then let her go. Mathura decided to file a rape case against the constables.
The Supreme Court, however, ruled in favour of the policemen assuming it was 'peaceful or consensual', stating that there were no signs of struggle on Mathura's body and that she did not raise any alarm. But Mathura said that they had threatened her into submission.
There was a huge public uproar and the case finally forced an amendment in the Criminal Law Act, 1983. The amendment meant that custodial rape was a punishable offence and the method to deal with ‘consent’ was henceforth included under India's rape laws.
Source: topyaps
No comments:
Post a Comment