Report No. 172

1.3. Part II:Existing Inadequacies.-

Various instances set out in Appendix-B to Annexure-A (a copy of the submissions of Sakshi including Appendix-B is enclosed herewith) to this part, the petitioner argues, would not amount to rape and perhaps not even to natural offence under section 377 or to outraging the modesty of a woman under section 354, in view of the existing law. They might just be a limited form of assault or criminal force, if at all, though all the said instances are of a grave nature and extremely disturbing. It is therefore necessary that there should be a rethinking on this issue and the offence of `sexual assault' should be more precisely defined and its parameters indicated.