- Free Law

Home › Judgments

Supreme Court of India 2021-04-27 partly_allowed

Bench: 2 — Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud, M R Shah

In Brief

A man was convicted of raping a 19-year-old blind woman from a Scheduled Caste community in her home. The Supreme Court upheld his life sentence under the rape provision (Section 376(1) IPC) but quashed the conviction under the SC/ST Atrocities Act, as the prosecution failed to prove the offence was committed specifically because of her caste. The Court pioneered intersectional analysis in Indian law, recognizing how disability, caste, and gender combined to create unique vulnerability. It affirmed that disabled witnesses' testimony deserves equal weight, rejected stereotypes of disability as incapacity, and emphasized how courts must contextualize sentencing decisions to account for victims' overlapping marginalities.

The lawyer headnote and full judgment text are available to registered users.

Criminal Law Sexual Assault and Rape Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Act Intersectionality Disability Rights Caste Discrimination Gender-Based Violence Evidence and Testimony Sentencing Constitutional Law

Read the full judgment & headnote. It's free.

Register to read the complete Supreme Court judgment text and the headnote, and to search 1 lakh+ Supreme Court judgments by meaning. It is a free service.