NEW DELHI: The Jharkhand high court has reduced the conviction of a man accused of attempting to rape a woman in 2003, holding that the evidence showed an assault but did not establish an attempt to rape. The court changed accused conviction from attempt to rape under Section 376/511 of the IPC to assault with intent to outrage a woman’s modesty under Section 354 and sentenced him to the around two months he had already spent in custody.What was the case about?According to the court order, the woman was cutting grass in her field on October 2, 2003, when the accused allegedly approached her. She told the court that he pushed her to the ground twice and chased her when she tried to escape. She raised an alarm, following which he fled. She later told her family about the incident and identified Shankar Ram as the man involved. A case was registered against him on October 4, 2003.A trial court in Palamau convicted the accused under Section 376/511 of the IPC and sentenced him to seven years of rigorous imprisonment and a Rs 1,000 fine in 2005. He challenged the conviction before the high court, arguing that the woman’s statements contained contradictions and that the evidence did not prove an attempt to rape. The state opposed the appeal and supported the trial court’s decision.What did the high court say?Justice Pradeep Kumar Srivastava said the woman’s evidence showed that Shankar had pushed her to the ground and assaulted her, but there was no specific evidence of an act that came close enough to an attempted rape. It noted that the woman had immediately told her family that there had been a physical fight or assault, rather than describing a specific attempt to have sexual intercourse.“The evidence of the prosecutrix, when considered in its entirety, does not disclose any specific or overt act on the part of the appellant which can be said to constitute an act towards the commission of rape so as to attract the ingredients of an offence punishable under Section 376/511 of the I.P.C,” the court said.The court further said that the evidence consistently showed that Shankar caught hold of the woman and pushed her to the ground. It held that this established an assault with the intention or knowledge that the act could outrage her modesty, which amounted to an offence under Section 354 of the IPC.“The consistent evidence of the prosecutrix regarding the appellant having caught hold of her and pushed her to the ground, coupled with the surrounding circumstances, establishes that the appellant had committed an assault upon the prosecutrix with the intention of outraging or with knowledge that his act was likely to outrage, her modesty,” it further added.The high court therefore changed Shankar’s conviction from attempt to rape to assault under Section 354. While deciding the sentence, it noted that this was his first offence and that more than 22 years had passed since the incident. Considering his age, character and past record, the court sentenced him to the period he had already spent in custody, which was about two months.The court accordingly modified the conviction and sentence. Shankar, who was on bail, was discharged from his bail bond and the sureties were also released. The judgment was pronounced on August 12, 2026.