Outrage over Kerala Court’s “sexual harassment charge won’t stand if woman is wearing 'sexually provocative' dress” remark

There was public outrage over the observation made by a Kerala court that the offence under sexual harassment is not prima facie attracted when the woman is wearing a "sexually provocative dress."

Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) Chairperson Swati Maliwal tweeted: “According to the Kerala Court, the complaint of sexual harassment will not be valid if the clothes of the girl are 'Aggravating' or 'Sexually Provocative!”

NCW chairperson Rekha Sharma: “The observations of the Kozhikode sessions court regarding a complainant's clothes, while granting bail in a sexual harassment case are extremely unfortunate and NCW strongly condemns it. The court has overlooked the far reaching consequences of such an order.”

Kerala Women's Commission Chairperson P Satheedevi termed the observation made by the court as "unfortunate" and said by making such references even before the evidence is presented and the trial is held, the court is effectively dismissing the allegations levelled by the complainant. This sends a very wrong message in serious cases like rape, reported by The Times of India.

Kozhikode Sessions Court has made the observation while granting anticipatory bail to 74-year-old social activist and writer Civic Chandran in a sexual harassment case.

Chandran had produced some photographs of the complainant with his bail plea.

“The photographs produced with the anticipatory bail application by the accused reveal that the complainant herself is exposing to dresses which are sexually provocative. Section 354 A will not prima facie stand against the accused,” the Kozhikode Sessions Court noted in the order.

The court further said that it was impossible to believe that a 74-year-old physically disabled man could forcefully do things which he had been accused of. …So, it is a case where an accused can be granted bail.

According to the prosecution, the alleged incident took place on February 8 2020 at a camp convened at Nandi beach in Kozhikode district. When the participants were returning after the camp, Chandran allegedly groped her and touched her inappropriately. The woman filed a complaint on July 29 and Chandran was booked under sections 354A (2), 341 and 354 of the IPC.

Alleging that the young writer had raised a false complaint against him, Chandran had questioned the delay in filing the complaint, claiming that it was a false case “cooked up by his enemies”.