In Jharkhand, a rape attempt conviction is modified — 26 years later

In a landmark decision, the Jharkhand High Court has modified the conviction of Kamalendu Mahto, who was initially sentenced to four years of rigorous imprisonment for attempting to rape a woman in 1999. The court, in its ruling on August 31, 2026, stated that there was no specific evidence to prove that the accused had committed an act sufficiently proximate to the commission of rape.

However, the court held that Mahto had indeed committed an indecent assault, which was likely to outrage the woman's modesty. The judgment emphasized that while the woman had described the alleged assault, other witnesses did not see the occurrence, and the accused fled the scene. The court noted that the prosecutrix's statement in the FIR indicated that the accused had entered the house with the intention to outrage her modesty, but did not specifically describe an overt act towards the commission of rape.

The court concluded that the absence of evidence showing an act sufficiently proximate to sexual intercourse meant that the ingredients of Section 376/511 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) were not met, and the conviction was modified accordingly.

Brief written by urgent.news from The Indian Express's own syndicated text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.