Court case(2004) 3 SCC 602

The accused, a relative who was staying in the house, took a young girl into a room, closed the door, made her lie down, removed her undergarments and lay upon her. On her screaming he got up; the medical and other evidence showed that there was no penetration and that he had ejaculated on her clothes. The trial court convicted him of attempting to commit rape (s. 376 read with s. 511 IPC) and sentenced him to seven years; the High Court affirmed. He appealed.

The Supreme Court altered the conviction to one under s. 354 IPC. Pasayat J explained the stages of a crime and held that, for an attempt to rape, the court must be satisfied that the accused, when he laid hold of the prosecutrix, not only desired to gratify his passions upon her person but intended to do so at all events and notwithstanding any resistance on her part. An attempt is an act done towards the commission of the offence that goes beyond preparation; where the evidence showed indecent acts without an attempt at penetration, the offence was outraging modesty, not attempted rape. The sentence was reduced accordingly.