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Consent key factor in defining sexual assault, says Delhi HC:
Context:
- The Delhi High Court’s discussion on various dimensions of sexual consent in the modern world.
What is the background?
- A judgment acquits a film-maker in a rape case giving him the benefit of the doubt that he might have misread the ‘no’ of the woman as a ‘yes’
What is the court’s observation?
- Consent would mean voluntary agreement of a woman to engage in sexual activity without being abused or exploited by coercion or threats
- The consent can be revoked any moment
- Sexual consent would be the key factor in defining sexual assault as any sexual activity without consent would be rape
- There are differences between how men and women initiate and reciprocate sexual consent
- In normal construct, man is the initiator of sexual interaction while whereas a woman is by and large non-verbal
