NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday stayed the entire order of the Allahabad High Court's March 17 decision, which had held that “mere” grabbing the breasts of a minor victim and breaking the string of her pyjama to “bring down” her lower garment were not sufficient facts to infer that the accused were “determined to commit rape”.

A two-judge bench of the apex court, headed by Chief Justice Surya Kant and also comprising Justice Joymalya Bagchi, said it will hear the case in January for a final hearing and indicated that it will lay down guidelines for trial courts to follow while passing orders in POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) cases.

Senior Advocate Shobha Gupta, appearing as amicus curiae, argued that the Allahabad HC had earlier remarked in another case that “the victim invited trouble by drinking liquor and agreeing to go to the place of the accused at night”. She said courts in Calcutta and Rajasthan have also made similar remarks in sensitive gender crime cases, which are “totally insensitive, legally unsustainable, and send a wrong message to society”.

Advocate Prashanth Padmanabhan, appearing for NGO ‘Stree Shakti’, added that in a sessions court proceeding earlier in the day, a girl was allegedly harassed during an in-camera hearing.