The Supreme Court’s decision this week to consider framing comprehensive, uniform guidelines for how courts should handle sexual-assault and child-sexual-abuse matters is a timely and necessary intervention. The move — triggered by an Allahabad High Court judgment of March 17 that minimised the gravity of an alleged attack on a minor — exposes a worrying pattern: well-publicised, widely-criticised orders from different high courts that reflect confusion, myths and personal value judgments by some judges about victims’ behaviour. The top court has stayed the Allahabad High Court’s controversial observations and directed that the trial continue on the higher charges of attempt to rape/rape under the IPC and POCSO.

Why the Supreme Court stepped In

The Allahabad High Court’s March 17 order d

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