Fight for Justice from an Unjust Judicial System
This article was first published in the print edition of Manushi Journal. (Issue-134, Jul-Aug 1992)
This is the story of a brave young girl called Tani (this is not her real name) and her equally courageous parents, Madan Gopal Kakkad and Elizabeth Kakkad, who decided not to be cowed down by societal, legal and other pressures and persisted in their fight against a child molester and rapist. In a recent judgement, the Supreme Court vindicated their struggle and sentenced the rapist, Nawal Dubey of Jabalpur (Madhya Pradesh), to seven years of rigorous imprisonment. This judgement of the Supreme Court by Justices Pandian and Fathima Beevi is unusual. Normally the Supreme Court does not reverse acquittals. In this case Dubey
had been acquitted in the Sessions Court and a second time in the High Court. It is normally held that the court which has heard the matter is the final arbiter of ‘facts’. The Supreme Court is only expected to interpret laws, it does not usually go into the facts of the matter. Still Pinky Anand and Geeta Luthra, who argued the case on behalf of Tani and her family, managed to not only get the petition admitted in the Supreme Court despite the two acquittals but also got the man convicted and sentenced to the maximum possible punishment. The Supreme Court created an important precedent by not limiting the definition of rape solely to instances of full penetration into the vagina and convicted Dubey of rape though he had not ruptured the girl’s hymen…