India, April 4 -- The Supreme Court on March 26 stayed the controversial order of the Allahabad high court, which had observed that acts like grabbing breasts or breaking the string of pyjamas do not constitute an attempt to rape and that the prosecution must go beyond this "stage of preparation" to prove its charges against a rape suspect.

The top court had taken suo motu cognisance of the case after an organisation "We the Women of India" approached the apex court against the March 17 order of the Allahabad high court. The 2021 case being heard involved an 11-year-old girl who was assaulted by two youths in Kasganj in Uttar Pradesh. Passers-by intervened and saved her from gang rape.

The Supreme Court's observation that the high court...