Chop legs or hands, then only people will obey laws: Karnataka High Court

'People are committing crimes casually as well as in a routine manner, only because offenders are not dealt with firmly under the law…Law has lost its teeth because we don't deal with offenders firmly,' Justice Nataraj orally said.

Bengaluru: If you chop a leg or hand, perhaps only then people will realise how to comply with law. Because we have a democracy, everybody takes it (for granted). Justice R Nataraj of the Karnataka High Court observed orally during the hearing of a bail petition filed by an engineering student in a case of alleged rape.

“People are committing crimes casually as well as in a routine manner, only because offenders are not dealt with firmly under the law…Law has lost its teeth because we don't deal with offenders firmly. That is why committing an offence has become so easy unlike in the Middle East,” Justice Nataraj orally said.

At the hearing, the counsel representing the petitioner submitted that the petitioner student is in judicial custody for almost two months though he did not commit any offence. The advocate said that the allegations are relating to an incident said to have occurred nearly three years ago. On the other hand, the police submitted that the petitioner and the complainant were classmates at an engineering college in Manipal.

The complainant stated that the incident happened on September 12, 2023, when the petitioner student persuaded her to accompany him to an apartment on the promise of discussing their friendship. The complainant alleged that the petitioner student allegedly sexually assaulted her at the apartment. The complainant claimed to have approached the National Commission for Women before approaching the Women Police Station with the complaint.

The court ordered notice to the state government and posted the matter to June 8 for further consideration