When a court has to come forward and tell a man that – “Ladki ki ‘na’ ka matlab ’na’ hota hai. “No means no” ‘No’ does not mean ‘yes’” – then you can’t help but wonder what kind of men are we raising.
It is heart-breaking how many men tend to justify sexual harassment and sexual in the name of – “Ladki ki ‘na’ mein ‘haan’ chupi hoti hai”. Recently, Judge Anoop Chitkara of Himachal Pradesh High Court has to state the obvious that our Indian men fail to understand. He said that ‘no’ means ‘no’.
What Happened?
The Himachal Pradesh High Court had a court hearing of a case where a 26-year-old guy named Suresh Kumar had allegedly raped a 17-year-old girl.
As per The Hindu, this horrific incident occurred in Solan. The accused had offered a lift to the girl. But, instead of dropping her where she wanted to go, he allegedly took her to a secluded place, intimidated her, and raped her.
It is heart-breaking how the accused shamelessly asked her not to cry. And, told her if she resisted, he will force himself on her. Since December, the accused has been in custody. He approached the court for bail. However, the Himachal Pradesh High Court rejected his bail plea.
During the court hearing, Justice Anoop Chitkara made certain crucial observations. He said:
“No means no — the simplest of sentences has become the most difficult for some men to understand. ‘No’ does not mean ‘yes’. It does not mean that the girl is shy, it does not mean that the girl is asking a man to convince her, it does not mean that he has to keep pursuing her. The word ‘no’ doesn’t need any further explanation or justification. It ends there, and the man has to stop.”
As per Live Law, the judge noted that the victim said ‘no’, yet the accused kept touching her:
“Neither the absence of resistance nor the unwilling submission implies consent in any language. She explicitly said ‘no’ to the accused, but he did not stop. When the curriculum does not include proper sex education, the children raised by such societies fail the women time and again.”
This inspiring judge didn’t forget to laud the victim for her courage as she stood for herself and came forward:
“It would be correct to say that it was courageous for the victim to talk about the unfortunate incident to her mother and later come forward and report the same with the police.”
At IFORHER, we are celebrating the courage of this inspiring woman who fought for herself and made sure that no other woman becomes victim of this sex-deprived monster.
What do you think of this incident? Tell us.
