Jahanvi Agarwal
Recently, Chief Justice of India (CJI), D Y Chandrachud, intervened in the case which was prompted by an order from the Allahabad High Court, which directed the examination of a rape survivor’s horoscope to determine if she is affected by “mangal dosha,” which is believed to be an affliction caused by the planet Mars in certain segments of Indian society.
Despite the Supreme Court is on a summer break with no scheduled hearings on weekends, the CJI learned about the order and instructed the court’s Registry to establish a bench to address the matter. Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and Pankaj Mithal convened a special session and stayed the high court’s order.
The case involves an Allahabad University professor who was imprisoned for raping a woman under the false pretense of marriage. In his bail petition, he claimed that he could not marry the woman because she is Manglik, seeking to support his plea. The high court instructed the head of Lucknow University’s astrology department to examine the woman’s horoscope and provide the findings within a week.
During the Supreme Court proceedings, the bench addressed Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who expressed his concern over the matter and requested the order to be stayed. An advocate representing the complainant informed the bench that the High Court had issued the order with the consent of both parties.
However, the bench said that:
“But this was totally out of context. What’s this got to do with the subject matter, apart from it, it involves so many other features… right to privacy has been disturbed, and we don’t want to spell out, there are so many other aspects.”
The Allahabad High Court bench decided to schedule further hearing for the case in July.