Molestation Accused Punished By Court, Asked To Wash Clothes Of All The Women In Bihar Village

A court in Bihar's Madhubani district has directed a man accused of molesting a woman to wash and iron the clothes of all female residents of his village, free of cost, by way of repentance.

Accused wanted to "serve the society"

The order was passed on Tuesday by Additional District Judge Avinash Kumar while granting bail to the accused.

He has been in jail since April this year and it was submitted by the defence counsel that he was young, aged only 20 years, and a washerman by profession who wanted to "serve the society".

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The petitioner's counsel also submitted that the complainant was ready for reconciliation and an affidavit to the effect was appended. The court, while granting bail to the accused, ordered that he shall wash and iron the clothes of all women residents of his village for the next six months.

Bizarre punishments ordered in the past

March, 2021

In March 2021, staying his arrest for a month, the Supreme Court asked a man whether he would marry the woman who had accused him of raping her when she was a minor.

NDTV had reported that the apex court was hearing a bail request of a government employee, one Mohit Subhash Chavan who had been accused of raping a schoolgirl. An employee at the Maharashtra State Electric Production Company, Chavan faced charges under the POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) Act and had sought protection from arrest.

PTI

¡°If you want to marry we can help you. If not, you lose your job and go to jail. You seduced the girl, raped her,¡± Chief Justice of India S.A. Bobde reportedly told Chavan¡¯s lawyer, who said that his client could lose his job.

August, 2020

In August 2020, the Indore bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court laid out a rather bizarre condition for granting bail to a man, accused of molesting a woman - get a Rakhi tied by her! The court also asked the man to give Rs 11,000 to the woman as part of a customary offering made by brothers to sisters on the occasion and seek her blessings.

PTI

In the order, the court said, ¡°The applicant, along with his wife, shall visit the house of the complainant with rakhi thread/band on August 3 at 11 am with a box of sweets and request the complainant to tie the rakhi band to him with the promise to protect her to the best of his ability for all times to come.¡±

September, 2015

Back in 2015, Haryana Khap Panchayat had ordered five shoe slaps as the punishment for a 23-year-old man who was held for molesting a seven-year-old girl.