Avoid terms like ‘helpless woman’ in rape judgments; no moral policing: Supreme Court panel to judges

The Supreme Court on Monday released a report prepared by an expert committee headed by former Supreme Court judge Justice Aniruddha Bose, which made several recommendations to ensure a sensitive approach by judges who decide on cases involving sexual offences..Judges must avoid expressions such as “prosecutrix”, “helpless woman”, “lost her chastity” and “outraged her modesty” in judgments delivered in such cases, the report says. The report, titled Judgments and Gender: Sensitivity and Compassion in Writing Judgments, said that courts should instead use neutral and survivor-centric terms such as “victim”, “survivor”, “complainant”, “bodily autonomy” and “sexual assault.".The committee prepared the recommendations after analysing 125 trial court judgments from across the country with the assistance of State judicial academies.