A college girl, who killed her father for attempting to rape her at knife-point, got a reprieve with the Madras HC quashing the entire criminal proceedings against her pending before the judicial magistrate, Sriperumbudur, holding that she acted only in the exercise of right of private defence to save her modesty and life.
“What was attempted to be done to the petitioner was an unbearable and intolerable violence. Thus, the petitioner was justified in killing her father or, otherwise, she would have fallen a victim of rape or, in the effort, she would have lost her life. In view of the above, I am inclined to quash the proceedings,” said justice S. Nagamuthu, allowing the petition of the 20-year-old B.Sc. Computer Science student.
On May 17, 2011, when her brother had gone for work and the motherless girl was sleeping at home, her drunken father attempted to rape her at knife-point and also kill her. Fearing that she would be either killed or raped, she took out a knife and stabbed him to death. She informed her brother and he gave a police complaint. After investigation, the police filed the chargesheet under section 304 (ii) (culpable homicide not amounting to murder).
Justice Nagamuthu said the girl was put in a situation where she would want to save her modesty by using any handy weapon. She performed exactly what Mahatma Gandhi said about self-protection of women about 80 years ago, the judge added, and recorded his appreciation of inspector M. Azhagu, for his fair investigation.