For a person, courts are the last and the only option to seek justice, and if this last resort also starts to base their judgements on regressive ideologies, then where’s the hope? Recently, the Gujarat High Court’s statements while hearing the plea of a young rape victim’s abortion have raised questions about the justice system. Especially the judge who addressed the plea. During the hearing, the judge literally cited Manusmiriti to justify the pregnancy of a 16-year-old minor rape victim. And now all we can think about is why would a court promote dated ideologies and practices in the 21st century. People have strongly condemned the HC’s statements on Twitter.
In a recent court hearing at the Gujarat High Court, Justice Samir J. Dave cited Manusmriti to justify the minor rape victim’s pregnancy. The judge stated that it was a common practice for women to get married at the age of 15 and give birth to a child before 17. He went ahead to say that girls mature faster than boys and also asked the attendees in the court to read Manusmriti to know about such practices. Also, as of now, the court is yet to receive the medical reports about the girl and the child’s health condition.
These statements by the Gujarat HC clearly prove that instead of progressing as a society, we are clearly taking steps back. Is it ethically right for a court to cite a regressive religious document like Manusmriti in the case of a minor rape victim? In the USA, after their highest court of justice overturned the Roe V Wade law to take away a woman’s right to abortion, India was happy to not be a country that promotes such ideas. However, looks like this time we were completely proven wrong. Also, there were many orthodox and casteist ideologies mentioned in the Manusmriti, is the court now giving more weightage to these scriptures in such sensitive cases? The judge should have been more considerate before talking about past practices in the case of a young girl’s forced pregnancy. She did not even conceive under normal circumstances.
Also, girls are expected to mature before boys, because of the conditioning that they go through at a very young age in an Indian household!
Also Read: Delhi HC Judge Says “Manusmriti Gave Women Respectable Position.” Twitter, And We, Object, Your Honour
Here’s how Twitter reacted to Gujarat High Court’s statement-
What are your thoughts on this?