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Authored by - Ambika Swain (Intern at Legal Soch Foundation)
Meta Description: A charge sheet was filed against ten persons for kidnapping but trial court had framed charges under kidnapping against five men suspects but discharged five women suspects. A revision petition was filed by the Delhi Police in the High Court of Delhi. The court's ruling gave importance to the core principles of the justice system which is to provide equal treatment and staying free from biasness.
Keywords: Gender, Bias, CrPC, Natural Justice, Assessment, Accused, Transparency
The High Court of Delhi made an observation on the judgement passed by the trial court. Rather than preconceived notions the innocence or guilt should be proved through evidence or facts. In the case of legal proceedings of criminal matters, all the persons accused should be treated equally irrespective of the gender.
In the court of Justice Swarna Kanta Sharma, a single judge bench, it was stressed upon the independent assessment of the accused involved in the criminal act based on the evidence collected by the prosecution party. It should also consider the statements recorded by the accused specifically.
The High Court found the trial court's failure to maintain the transparency and accountability of legal proceedings because they were unable to provide sufficient grounds for the accused females getting discharged in this case. They showed biasness which is strictly against the principles of Natural Justice.
The trial court also deviated from its function by discharging the accused persons during the time of framing charges which was completely based on assumptions and stereotype thinking which led to a hindrance in the legal process. This was surely a short coming from the resulted judgement which questioned the integrity of the judicial process.
Under Section 437 A of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the accused female persons were asked to provide bail bonds after they were discharged. High court raised question regarding this different treatment to men and women.
This case tries to correct the error that the trial court made, so that justice would be served in a fair and just manner in the future cases. The approach should be gender-neutral. The innocence or guilt should be proved without being partial regardless of the gender. If courts will not maintain the decorum of justice, then it will affect the society as a whole.
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