The judgment, delivered by a Bench of Justices CT Ravikumar and PV Sanjay Kumar, ordered that the “impugned order is quashed and set aside,” with instructions for the FIR and criminal proceedings to continue in accordance with the law. The Bench clarified that it had not expressed any opinion on the merits of the case.
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday (7th Nov) set aside a Rajasthan High Court decision that used Section 482 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) to quash a sexual harassment case based on a compromise between the accused and the survivor.
The judgment, delivered by a Bench of Justices CT Ravikumar and PV Sanjay Kumar, ordered that the “impugned order is quashed and set aside,” with instructions for the FIR and criminal proceedings to continue in accordance with the law. The Bench clarified that it had not expressed any opinion on the merits of the case.
The Supreme Court held that a sexual harassment case cannot be dismissed merely because the complainant and the accused have reached a “compromise.”
The Court set aside a Rajasthan High Court order that had granted relief to a teacher accused of sexually harassing his minor student, instead directing that the prosecution against him proceed.
BRIEF FACTS
The verdict followed a question on whether a High Court could quash a sexual harassment case through Section 482 CrPC based solely on a compromise between the parties. This issue arose from an appeal related to a sexual harassment case involving a 15-year-old girl, where the accused sought to quash the case following a compromise with the survivor’s family. The Rajasthan High Court had granted this request, leading to the present petition by an uninvolved third party, Ramji Lal Bairwa, contesting the High Court’s decision.
Initially, the Supreme Court noted that a third party typically has no standing to file a plea in a criminal matter. However, it ultimately decided to review the issue and included the accused and the survivor’s father as parties to the case. In September 2022, a Bench led by then-Chief Justice of India UU Lalit, along with Justice JB Pardiwala, appointed Senior Advocate and former Kerala High Court judge R Basant as amicus curiae to assist the Court, with Advocates Aviral Saxena and Manu Krishnan also contributing to the assistance.
Today’s verdict, reserved since October 2023, concludes the proceedings.
Case Title: Ramji Lal Bairwa & Anr vs. State of Rajasthan & Ors.
