In P. Rathinam v. Union of India, the Supreme Court held that Section 309 of the Indian Penal Code, which criminalized attempted suicide, was unconstitutional as it violated Article 21 of the Constitution guaranteeing the right to life and personal liberty.
In People's Union for Democratic Rights v. Union of India, a public interest litigation was filed over labor rights violations at construction sites for the 1982 Asian Games. Workers were paid less than the statutory minimum wage, and women received unequal pay, violating the Equal Remuneration Act, 1976.
In Rajbir @ Raju & Anr v. State of Haryana, the Supreme Court of India considered an appeal against a sentence of life imprisonment for murdering his pregnant wife six months into their marriage because she requested money.
In this case, a woman's in-laws repeatedly demanded additional gifts from her. As a result of this harassment, the woman committed suicide. The Court defined dowry as any demand for money, property, or valuable security made directly or indirectly in connection with marriage.
In the public interest litigation of Sakshi v. Union of India Supreme Court the NGO Sakshi urged the Supreme Court to expand the definition of rape under Section 375 IPC to include all forms of non-consensual sexual assault, including non-penile-vaginal acts. While the Court declined to broaden the statutory definition, holding that such changes must come through legislation, it issued landmark guidelines to protect children and survivors of sexual abuse during trial.
In Sarma v. V.K.V. Sarma, an unmarried woman was in a live-in relationship with Mr. Sarma for 18 years, fully aware that he was already married. When he later abandoned her, she sought maintenance under the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005.
A village man sexually assaulted an 11-year-old girl, and he ran away when the girl’s aunt approached. In an attempt to avoid the stigma of a sexual attack, her family convened a village panchayat (council) to resolve the dispute. The police were contacted when the panchayat was unsuccessful, and the girl did not have a medical examination until 80 hours after the attack. The exam found vaginal bruising but no other evidence of penetration. Despite the delays, the Court upheld the conviction under § 376 of the Penal Code.
In Shanti v. State of Haryana, the petitioners were charged and found guilty of dowry death. The Court upheld the conviction, holding that the evidence of cruelty necessary to create a presumption of dowry death may be less than or different from the level of evidence of cruelty necessary to uphold a charge of criminal cruelty. The two crimes are unrelated, despite using similar wordings, and a person may be convicted of dowry death without having committed criminal cruelty.
In Shayara Bano v. Union of India, the petitioner was divorced by her husband after 15 years of marriage through talaq-e-biddat, a practice by which a Muslim man can divorce his wife by pronouncing “talaq” three times in one sitting, without the wife’s consent. She filed a writ petition challenging the practice as unconstitutional.
A man induced a girl to have intercourse with him on a false promise to marry her and then threatened to kill her and her mother. School records showed that the girl was less than 16 years of age. The Court held the man could not be convicted of rape for his false promise, but he could be convicted for the use of criminal force on a woman with intent to outrage her modesty. This case demonstrates that men can be criminally convicted for lying to a woman in order to have intercourse with her.
