LI NETWORK
On the occasion of International Women’s day, Law Insider conducted a webinar, with Sanya Kishawar, assistant lecturer at Jindal Global Law School, hosted by Khushi Lunawat, a student at School of Law, Christ (Deemed to be University).
This webinar focused on the recent judgment passed by the Supreme court, where the CJI asked the petitioner, “will you marry her?” This webinar focused on various other judgments as well, like the recent verdict given by the High court of Maharashtra, related to the interpretation of the term ‘Sexual Assault’. The discussion also moved towards the conditions and issues that women face daily in this male dominating world.
When asked by the host, “The court asked the petitioner that, “will he marry her’? but what about the woman’s opinion? Will she marry her rapist? Isn’t it showing Patriarchy of the judges?” Ms. Sanya replied by saying that it does show the patriarchy of judges but she cannot fully say that as she does not know the reason behind it.
She then explained the legal and moral side of the answer that the girl would have given. Legally, she can marry her rapist but morally she will not, and this can be seen from the fact that she filed an FIR against her rapist.
So, the CJI should have asked for the woman’s opinion also. Although, the verdict was nowhere related to the marriage of the parties, still the question asked by the CJI is also considered as one of the important factors for the interpretation of this case.