NEW DELHI: The suggestion that a woman wearing jeans could “corrupt young boys” reflects a “deeply troubling and unacceptable mindset”, the Delhi High Court said on Monday, making clear that the responsibility for conduct can’t be placed on the clothes of women.
It said the answer was not to control what women wore, but to teach children to control their conduct, respect personal boundaries and treat every human being with dignity.
Justice Chandrasekharan Sudha made the observation while convicting a man accused of sexually harassing a girl in 2013. The accused had been acquitted by a trial court in 2014. The HC was hearing an appeal against that order.
According to the survivor, the accused, her neighbour, stalked her, made sexually coloured remarks and touched her inappropriately.
The HC criticised the line of cross-examination adopted by the defence counsel, saying questions about the survivor’s clothing were “wholly irrelevant” and appeared intended to morally judge her.
The judge noted that the questions put to the survivor referred to her “western” dressing, the religion of the local residents and their objections to her clothing. “What a girl or woman chooses to wear is a matter of her personal choice.
Neither her neighbours, nor society, nor the accused, nor counsel appearing in a court of law has any right to dictate her clothing. It is simply none of their concern. The suggestion that a woman wearing jeans may ‘corrupt young boys’ reflects a deeply troubling and unacceptable mindset,” the judge said.
The judge added, “The answer does not lie in controlling the clothes of women. Parents and society must instead teach their children to control their conduct, respect personal boundaries and treat every human with dignity.”