New Delhi, July 15, 2026
National Commission for Women (NCW) Chairperson Vijaya Rahatkar has urged the judiciary to adopt a more survivor‑centric and sensitive approach while interpreting sexual offences, emphasising that justice must go beyond the physical act and encompass dignity, consent, fear and psychological trauma.
Reacting to a recent judgment of the Patna High Court, Rahatkar said the objective of justice should not be confined to a technical reading of the law.
She noted that if the judicial process becomes detached from the survivor’s lived experience and the spirit of the law, public confidence in the justice delivery system could be undermined.
She observed that while courts deliver judgments based on law and evidence, the absence of a sense of complete justice after an 18‑year‑long trial, and inadequate punishment for serious sexual offences, can deeply affect women’s faith in both themselves and the system.
“The dignity, bodily autonomy and constitutional rights of women must remain the highest priority of our justice system,” Rahatkar said, welcoming the “clear, sensitive and survivor‑centric approach” adopted by Chief Justice Surya Kant.
Expressing optimism, she added that India’s justice system is steadily moving towards a more gender‑just framework that upholds women’s rights and dignity.
The Patna High Court recently acquitted a man of attempted rape, ruling that pressing a woman’s breasts and trying to remove her salwar did not amount to an attempt to rape but only to outraging modesty.
The Supreme Court, led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant, criticised this reasoning, stressing that courts must adopt greater sensitivity in sexual offence cases and issued a handbook on survivor‑centric judicial conduct.
National Commission for Women Chairperson Vijaya Rahatkar welcomed the apex court’s intervention, saying justice must reflect dignity, consent, fear and trauma, and praised the move towards a gender‑just framework that upholds women’s rights.(Agency)
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