7 landmark judgments, crucial orders delivered by top courts in 2022

The year 2022 was particularly significant for women when it came to legal matters. While American women had their rights pushed back by 50 years by their top court, Indian women received several progressive judgments from theirs. Here are some of the most crucial judgments from the Indian Supreme Court — and one from its US counterpart — in the year gone past

1. US Supreme Court on abortion law

The US Supreme Court shocked Americans on June 24 by ending constitutional protection for abortion that had been in place since 1973.

The court’s conservative majority overturned the 49-year-old Roe vs Wade judgment, a landmark decision in which the Court had ruled that the US Constitution gave women the right to have an abortion. The decision struck down many federal and state abortion laws, which the Court has now reinstated.

Activists fear that the ruling will lead to abortion bans in about half of American states. According to opinion polls conducted at the time, most Americans favoured preserving Roe, that is, maintaining women’s right to have an abortion.

2. Indian Supreme Court and single women’s right to abortion

In a dramatically opposite ruling in India, the Supreme Court held on September 29 that all women, irrespective of their marital status, are entitled to safe and legal abortion till 24 weeks of pregnancy.

The apex court delivered the verdict on the interpretation of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act, considering whether unmarried or single women can be allowed the benefit of abortion up to 24 weeks like their married counterparts.

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The distinction between married and unmarried women under abortion laws is “artificial” and “constitutionally unsustainable,” held the top court. The distinction between married and unmarried perpetuates stereotype that only married women are sexually active, the top court said. “Women must have autonomy to have free exercise of these rights,” the court said.

Following in the SC’s footsteps, the Kerala High Court in November allowed a woman to terminate her 24-week pregnancy, saying there could be no restriction on a woman’s right to exercise her reproductive choice—that is, to either procreate or abstain from it.

3. Rape includes marital rape, says SC

In the same judgment on September 29, the Supreme Court made another crucial observation. It ruled that forceful pregnancy of a married woman can be treated as “marital rape.”

“Married women may also form part of the class of rape survivors. Rape means sexual intercourse without consent, and intimate partner violence is a reality. In this case also, a woman may get forcefully pregnant,” the court said.

The bench said the term “rape” under the MTP Act will include pregnancy due to forcible sex by husbands. A Kerala High Court judgment in 2021 set the precedent for identifying marital rape as cruelty and being the valid ground for divorce.

4. Apex court prohibits “two-finger test” for rape survivors

In another significant judgment, the Supreme Court on October 31 prohibited the “two-finger test” — which is still used to examine rape survivors — calling it a “patriarchal” and “sexist” practise.

The court said a decade-old SC decision had held the invasive “two-finger test” a violation of a woman’s dignity and privacy. “The procedure which tests vaginal laxity is an upfront on women’s dignity. It cannot be said that a sexually active woman cannot be raped,” the court said.

Asserting that the practice has no scientific basis to establish the sexual history of women and instead retraumatises the victim, the top court said anyone conducting the test henceforth will be held guilty of misconduct.

The court also directed the Centre and state health secretaries to take steps to remove the study materials on two-finger tests from the curriculum of government and private medical colleges.

5. SC upholds 10% EWS quota in government jobs, education

The Supreme Court on November 7 upheld the 10% reservation for persons of economically weaker sections (EWS) in admissions to educational institutions and government jobs.

The verdict came after pleas were filed challenging the validity of the 103rd constitutional amendment. The question was whether the EWS quota violated the basic structure of the Constitution.

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The court held that reservation is an instrument of “affirmative action” by the State to ensure an “all-inclusive approach.” “Reservations for EWS does not violate the basic structure on account of 50% ceiling limit because the ceiling limit is not inflexible,” the judgment said.

6. Seven convicts in Rajiv Gandhi assassination case released 

The Supreme Court on November 11 ordered the release of all six remaining convicts in former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination case. A seventh one was released in May.

The released convicts were Nalini Sriharan, Robert Pais, RP Ravichandran, Suthenthira Raja alias Santhan, Shriharan alias Murugan, and Jayakumar. On May 18, the top court ordered the release of AG Perarivalan, another convict, by invoking its special powers under Article 142 of the Constitution. All seven had been sentenced to life terms in the case.

Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated on May 21, 1991, at Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu by a female suicide bomber, identified as Dhanu, at a poll rally.

7. Activists and journalists get relief

This was also the year when the Supreme Court came to the aid of activists and journalists arrested in several cases.

On July 20, the SC granted interim bail to Alt News’ co-founder Mohammed Zubair in all the FIRs filed against him in Uttar Pradesh and disbanded the Special Investigation Team (SIT) set up by the Uttar Pradesh government to probe his tweets.

Next, on August 10, the court granted bail on medical grounds to 82-year-old poet-activist PV Varavara Rao, an accused in the Bhima Koregaon case. Rao was arrested on August 28, 2018, under the draconian Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and granted medical bail in 2021. It was extended from time to time, but the SC granted him regular bail with conditions.

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Social activist Teesta Setalvad, arrested on June 25 for allegedly fabricating evidence to frame “innocent people” in the 2002 Gujarat riots cases, got interim bail from the SC on September2.

Kerala-based journalist Siddique Kappan also got relief from the SC in a UAPA case. On September 9, the SC granted bail to Kappan, who was arrested in October 2020 while on his way to Uttar Pradesh’s Hathras where a Dalit woman had died after allegedly being gang-raped. The court observed that “every person has freedom of expression.”

However, Kappan remains in jail because of a Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) case filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in Uttar Pradesh, in which he is yet to get bail. Kappan has been in jail for more than two years now.