Rubbing Male Genitals Over Underpants Is Rape Under Section 375(B): Meghalaya HC

Meghalaya High Court has upheld the decision that “rubbing male genitals even if the female is wearing underpants is rape.” The decision is taken under Section 375(b) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

The bench led by Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice W Diengdoh rejected the appeal and declares the conviction of a rape accused and his sentence by a trial court in 2018. The bench said, “Even if it be accepted that the accused herein forced his organ into vagina or urethra of the victim, despite the victim wearing her underpants, it would still amount to penetration for the purpose of Section 375(b) of the penal code.”

HC Views On Penetration

The case dates back to 2006 when the accused, Cheerfulson Snaitang, sexually abuses a minor girl on September 23. A week later the family of the minor filed the case against him. In addition to this, even the victim confessed his crime and said that “he lost control over himself.”

Certainly, the victim’s medical examination revealed similar findings. Like her vagina was tender and red, along with this her hymen was ruptured too. Not only that during the trial the medical examiner explained that the hymen tear shows that the tear is caused by the push of a foreign body, not by any sports or physical exercise.

The Meghalaya HC said, “In any event, by virtue of Section 375 (c) if the IPC, when a person manipulates any part of the body of a woman so as to cause penetration into, inter alia, the vagina or urethra, the act would amount to rape. There is sufficient evidence of such penetration in the present case.”

The above statement is given by the court pertaining to the fact that the victim said that “she did not feel any pain at the time of the sexual assault. But as the victim is a minor so taking a decision on her statement is not ethically right. As the knowledge pertaining to sex education and act is very limited in youngsters.”

The court also said just because the victim says that she did not feel any pain does not mean that the accused is free of guilt. The court has given ten years imprisonment and a fine of Rs 25,000 to the accused in the case.