Western permissiveness no licence to rape: HC TNN 22 December 2009, 04:37am IST
PANAJI: Even as Goa’s politicians denounced foreigners for fraternizing with locals after the alleged rape of a Russian girl, the high court of Bombay at Goa recently held that permissiveness of the western society promotes “individual liberty” and that rape violates that liberty. The high court made the observation on December 15 while paving the way for the arrest of John Fernandes, accused of raping the Russian girl at Colva on the night of December 1. Justice U D Salvi in his order noted, “(The) victim in the instant case is a Russian national. She belongs to a nation under western influence. Permissiveness of the western society degenerates into tolerance for immoral excesses, but certainly such tolerance is for promoting individual liberty.” Rape, as commonly understood, is sexual intercourse with an adult female without her consent, which is a violation of an individual’s liberty, the court noted. In its order, the court said that the Margao sessions judge (who granted anticipatory bail to Fernandes) “totally misconstrued the circumstances which led to (the) crime” with the observation that the victim herself went to the restaurant for a party and remained there till 2am the next day and “consumed excessive alcohol to the extent of disabling herself from riding her bike”. The high court said that the sessions judge order is unjustified and passed in awrong exercise of discretion. “Lack of sensitivity on the part of the learned sessions judge to the crime of such nature is apparent from the face of the impugned order,” Salvi noted. “The sessions judge completely overlooked the fact that the accused had prompted the complainant and her friend to consume excessive liquor by continuing to offer them liquor between 11pm on 01.12.2009 and 2am on 02.12.2009. This conduct of the accused reveals his design, which he was planning to effect ruthlessly,” the high court added. The high court also remarked that total prima facie view of the material placed before the court ought to form the basis of the order granting bail. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/goa/Western-permissiveness-no-licence-to-rape-HC/articleshow/5363634.cms