In what can emerge as a history-making and precedent-setting case, the Supreme Court is trying to solve a unique incident in which it reserved judgement on March 2.

A 38-year-old mentally challenged woman was raped, but since technically the woman’s intellectual growth can be compared to that of an eight year-old, the claim is that this should be a case treated with the stringent parameters of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012.

The 60-year-old Delhi-based doctor, Dr Manjula Krippendorf, has maintained that after the rape (in 2010) her daughter’s mental age had plummeted to that of a three-year-old, making it impossible to get a statement from her.

The apex court bench of Justices Dipak Misra and Rohington Nariman said: “We have to decide whether she is a child under the act or not. Whether this is maintainable or not. Order reserved.”

In this case the petitioner is physically a major, but as per her brain growth she is of only of eight years old. The main accused in the case has died.

—India Legal Bureau