Wed Apr 09 16:19:02 UTC 2025: ## Supreme Court Stays Allahabad High Court Order Downplaying Child Rape Attempt
**New Delhi, April 9, 2025** – The Supreme Court of India has stayed an Allahabad High Court order that minimized a sexual assault on a minor girl as merely “outraging modesty,” rather than attempted rape. The High Court’s ruling, delivered by Justice Ram Manohar Narayan Mishra on March 17, sparked outrage.
The Supreme Court’s intervention follows a petition filed by the victim’s mother and the NGO Just Rights for Children Alliance. The petition argued that the two men who assaulted the child – giving her a lift, grabbing her breasts, and attempting to drag her under a culvert – clearly intended to rape her. Their actions were only interrupted by passersby.
The Supreme Court described the High Court’s order as “totally insensitive, inhuman, and unknown to the tenets of law,” criticizing its graphic recounting of the child’s trauma without recognizing the attempted rape. The petition also highlighted the High Court’s failure to consider additional charges, including abduction and procuration of a minor for illicit intercourse, under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
The Supreme Court, which had already initiated a suo motu case on the matter, has tagged the mother’s petition to this case. The case will be heard again on April 15. The Attorney General and Solicitor General have urged the court to carefully examine the case. The Supreme Court had previously issued notices to the Union government and the Uttar Pradesh state government.
First Piper 