INTRODUCTION:
‘Heinous’ is derived from the French term ‘Haine’ meaning ‘Hatred’ and the Latin term ‘Cerner’ meaning ‘to judge’. Section 2 (33) of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Child) Act, 2005 defines ‘Heinous Offences’.
Any offense that has—
- Imprisonment above 7 years or
- No minimum penalty or
- No minimum penalty of fewer than 7 years
- cannot be considered to be ‘Heinous Offences’.
HEINOUS OFFENCES—
Acid Attack: It is the most irreversible and immoral crime which stays with a person forever. The term ‘Acid’ is inclusive of a substance that is acidic in nature and results in physical injury either temporary or permanent. The offender throws it on the most visible parts of the body of a person. The offender may force the victim to drink it or put acid slowly on the person’s body until death. Over 72% of acid attack victims are women whereas the other 28% includes men. Recently, a girlfriend threw acid on her boyfriend when he refused to marry her.
Rape: Indulging in sexual intercourse with a woman against her consent is an offence against the dignity and morality of women. As per the data recorded by the National Crime Records Bureau in 2015 over 97 % of the accused were known to be victims. There are many forms of the offence being heterosexual and homosexual in nature are kinds of sexual violence.
Murder: When an act was committed to cause the death of a person violates the ‘Right to Life of a person. If the act was committed to—
- Grave and Sudden Provocation
- Private Defense
- Exercise of legal power
- Sudden fight
- Consent
Then accused cannot be held liable as the act was committed without any intention to do so.
Abetment of Suicide: The act of encouraging and instigating a person to end his life by committing suicide. It is an act that does not need any weapons it just needs just the ability to brainwash a person. When a person’s emotions like desperation, anxiety, hopelessness, and guilt weigh more over the sense of understanding. It causes a greater degree of mental harassment to a person so he could not find a solution to it. The mere use of certain words without any intention of aiding the act cannot be called an abetment of suicide.
Unnatural Offences: Sexual intercourse with any man, woman, or animal against the order of nature. Such offence accused shall be liable to be punished for a term that may extend up to ten years. Consent for any sexual intercourse shall be deemed immaterial but with Navtej Singh Johar Judgement Section, 377 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) was decriminalized.
Sexual Harassment: It includes an attempt at physical, verbal and non-verbal actions and gestures that are sexual in nature. It could vary from unwanted dilate touching to unwanted sexual jokes. It also includes making any kind of sexual gestures by way of body movement.
Mental Harassment: It is the hostile conduct of an individual or group of individuals towards another individual. It may seem harmless when done once or twice but becomes destructive if occur in repetition. It is interpreted in terms of cruelty and torture. When sound, gesture, and explicit conduct that is sexual nature is committed to outrage the modesty of a woman.
Human Trafficking: It is an act of buying and selling, importing and exporting of persons as goods for purpose of sexual exploitation. The term does not include those who voluntarily indulge in such acts. The government must make provisions for the rehabilitation of victims of human trafficking as such people often tend to choose slavery over freedom.
JAIL OR BAIL?
While granting bail factors like chances to tamper with evidence and to escape must be considered. A bail application was dismissed as the accused in the case—
- Killed an old helpless lady.
- Seen coming out of the victim’s house.
Giving sufficient reason to believe that he may have committed the offence.
The child offender has committed a ‘Heinous Offence’. Juvenile Justice Board shall conduct a preliminary assessment regarding mental and physical capacity. Juvenile ‘X’ was accused of an offence committed under Section 304 IPC which provides imprisonment for up to 10 years with or without a fine. It also includes a person’s ability to understand the consequences of offences.
A woman was married according to Muslim rites and rituals. After, her marriage she was subjected to cruelty by her husband and indulged in unnatural sex many times. She came to know that her husband was having an extramarital affair and she tried to stop him but he refused. Later, she told the same to her brother-in-law who too sexually harassed her. It was expressed by the Bench of Delhi High Court that ‘Rape is not physical assault it destructs personality of a victim’.
The accused killed a 30-year-old dentist in front of her father and later absconded from the site. The injury caused by the accused was serious and inflicted harm on her internal vital organs. It was a cold-blooded murder of a lady doctor and his act of absconding was enough to establish reasonable apprehensions. Reasonable apprehensions shall include the accused ability to influence witnesses and tampering with evidence recorded.
CONCLUSION:
Such offences are commonly done by men against women who think women are weak and do not need to be respected. Women to change this opinion chose that committing similar acts would prove their dominant nature. But, in reality, it is just an individual emotion that gets overpowered above every other factor.
