In a landmark judgment that widens the ambit of the rape law, the Kerala High Court has held that the act of an accused rubbing his penis on the thighs of a victim will constitute rape under the Indian Penal Code.
The court held that if an act, though non-penetrative, provides sexual gratification to the accused similar to that of penetrative sex, it will be termed as rape under the Indian Penal Code.
A bench of Justices K Vinod Chandran and Ziyad Rahman AA was hearing a criminal appeal filed by a man convicted for the rape of a minor, who had asked the court to examine whether his attempt of trying to penetrate the gap between the survivor’s thighs also constitutes the act of rape.
