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‘Girls should control sexual urges’ | Supreme Court takes exception to Calcutta High Court verdict, says judges should not preach

The Supreme Court on December 8 said judges are not expected to preach or express personal views even as it took exception to remarks in a Calcutta High Court judgment advising adolescent girls to “control sexual urges”.

A Bench of Justices A.S. Oka and Pankaj Mithal took suo motu cognisance of the observations made in the High Court judgment dealing with a POCSO case and said they were “highly objectionable and completely unwarranted”.

“Prima facie, we are of the view that the judges are not expected to express personal views or preach,” Justice Oka observed orally. The apex court issued notice to the West Bengal government and appointed senior advocate Madhavi Divan and advocate Liz Mathew amicus curiae to assist the court.

It prima facie said such observations were an affront to the rights of dignity and privacy of adolescents. The Calcutta High Court had called for decriminalisation of consensual sexual acts involving adolescents above 16 years.

A High Court Bench of Justices Chitta Ranjan Dash and Partha Sarathi Sen had observed in its October 18 judgment that it was the “duty/obligation of every female adolescent to; protect her right to integrity of her body; protect her dignity and self-worth; thrive for overall development of her self transcending gender barriers; control sexual urge/urges as in the eyes of the society she is the loser when she gives in to enjoy the sexual pleasure of hardly two minutes; protect her right to autonomy of her body and her privacy”.

For male adolescents, the Bench had said they should “respect the aforesaid duties of a young girl or woman and he should train his mind to respect a woman, her self worth, her dignity and privacy, and right to autonomy of her body”.

The High Court had stressed the need for parental guidance for adolescents and requisite sex education with emphasis on the aforesaid aspects and reproductive health and hygiene should be a part of the curriculum of every school.

“We do not want our adolescents to do anything that will push them from the dark to the darker side of life. It is normal for each adolescent to seek the company of the opposite sex but it is not normal for them to engage in sex devoid of any commitment and dedication,” the verdict had said.