Madras high court uploads handbook for judges for cases involving sexual offences

The Madras high court has uploaded a handbook titled ‘Judgments and Gender’ on its website, asking judges to follow it while writing orders in cases involving sexual offences and other vulnerable victims and witnesses in compliance with the Supreme Court’s directive on inculcating sensitivity and compassion in such judgments.The document says sensitive judicial language is not merely a matter of politeness.The document has a glossary of words judges should avoid, guidance on courtroom conduct, victim protection and compensation.The Supreme Court’s order, reproduced in the handbook, states that “no judge or judgment of any court can be expected to do complete justice when it is inconsiderate towards the factual realities of a litigant.” It says sensitive judicial language is therefore not merely a matter of politeness. “...it is essential to ensuring fairness, dignity, and impartiality in adjudication.”A Committee of Experts headed by Justice Aniruddha Bose, Director of the National Judicial Academy (NJA), Bhopal, drafted the handbook after the Supreme Court ordered its preparation in February 2026.The Supreme Court issued its direction while hearing a suo motu case arising from an Allahabad high court order that softened charges in a case involving a minor girl. The Allahabad high court held that an accused who “grabbed the breasts” and “tried to bring down lower garment” of the girl should not be charged with attempt to rape, ruling that the conduct amounted only to “preparation.”Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and NV Anjaria on February 10 set aside the order and directed the NJA to prepare guidelines for judges dealing with sexual offences and similarly sensitive matters.The bench had said that the material be written in simple language, free of “heavy, complicated expressions borne from foreign languages and jurisdictions.” The push came after some criticism of the Supreme Court’s 2023 ‘Handbook on Combating Gender Stereotypes’, which was called “too Harvard-oriented” for a rape survivor or an ordinary litigant to use.The new document narrows its scope. The 2023 handbook addressed gender stereotyping across marital, domestic and workplace contexts. The 2026 one confines itself to sexual offences and vulnerable victims and witnesses.The document traces 27 Supreme Court judgments on workplace harassment and reproductive autonomy. It sets out rape shield protections against victim blaming, discusses cross-examination limits on questioning a survivor’s sexual history. It reviews 125 trial court judgments.The bulk of the document is a glossary. It lists terms such as “prosecutrix,” “outraged the modesty,” “helpless female,” and “lust” as expressions to retire. It proposes “survivor,” “sexual assault” and “violation of bodily autonomy” instead. It asks courts to drop words like “concubine, keep and mistress” in favour of “partner,” and to replace “prostitute” with “sex worker” except where a statute requires the older term.For gender-diverse communities, it recommends “intersex” over regional terms such as hijra, thirunangai and jogappa, calling the latter “implicitly pejorative.”The handbook sets out compassionate court practices such as in-camera trials for sexual offences under the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, pre-trial victim counselling, video-link testimony for child and vulnerable witnesses, and treating witnesses “as guests” rather than making them wait for days.As an annexure, the Madras high court handbook reproduces the NALSA Compensation Scheme for Women Victims/Survivors of Sexual Assault, 2018, a government-funded scheme under which money is given to women who have survived sexual assault or other serious crimes, on top of any punishment the courts hand down to the accused.