Gender Neutrality Fair Justice Delivery System’s Hallmark: Delhi High Court

New Delhi:

Gender neutrality is the hallmark of a fair justice delivery system and crimes involving serious bodily injuries must be firmly dealt with, irrespective of the perpetrator being a man or a woman, the Delhi High Court has said.

Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma made the observation while dismissing the anticipatory bail plea of a woman accused of burning her husband with boiling water mixed with chilli powder.

“The hallmark of a fair and just justice delivery system is to remain gender-neutral while adjudicating cases of such nature as the present one. In case a woman causes such injuries, a special class cannot be created for her,” the court said.

Crimes involving the infliction of life-threatening bodily injuries, it said, must be dealt with firmly, irrespective of whether the perpetrator was a man or a woman as the life and dignity of every individual, regardless of gender, were equally precious.

The court called out the “stereotype” of men not being the victim in domestic relationships, and said empowerment of one gender could not come at the cost of unfairness towards another and men too were entitled to the same legal safeguards.

“Men who are victims of violence at the hands of their wives often face unique difficulties, including societal disbelief and the stigma associated with being perceived as a victim. Such stereotypes perpetuate the erroneous belief that men cannot suffer violence in domestic relationships,” said the court’s judgement on January 22.

It rejected the woman’s plea for leniency on the ground of her gender and said creating a special class of leniency for one gender would erode the foundational principles of justice in cases of life threatening bodily injuries.

Refusing pre-arrest bail, the court said the intent to cause grievous harm or even death in the present case was apparent from the circumstances.

“This court wonders that in case the roles were reversed, and had the husband poured boiling water mixed with chilli powder on his wife while she was asleep, locked her inside the room, after doing so, would have taken her phone and fled from the spot, leaving their infant child crying beside her, it would have been undoubtedly argued that no mercy should be shown to him. However, the courts cannot let hidden or apparent biases guide them,” it observed.

The court observed the accused failed to join the investigation and the man’s phone had to be recovered, among other things.

“No ground for grant of anticipatory bail is made out,” it held.

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