The recent intervention by the Supreme Court in a sexual assault case has reignited concerns about judicial sensitivity and legal interpretation in cases of sexual violence. A ruling by the Allahabad High Court, which downplayed the severity of an assault on an 11- year-old girl, sparked public outrage and underscored the persistent challenges within the justice system when dealing with sexual crimes.

At the heart of the controversy was the argument that the accused had not gone beyond the stage of preparation to commit rape, a distinction drawn on technical and legal grounds. Such reasoning fails to recognise the lived reality of victims and instead treats sexual violence as a matter of cold legal semantics. In cases of sexual assault, the intent be hind an act is often clear from the very nature of the aggression. The argument that an assault only constitutes an “attempt” at rape if it crosses an arbitrarily defined threshold disregards the........

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