A Woman Can Be Charged With Gang Rape for Aiding the Offence, Rules Delhi High Court in Ansxxx v. State of NCT of Delhi

Case: Ansxxx and Another v. State of NCT of Delhi and Another
Citation: 2026:DHC:9197
Date of Judgment: 15 October 2026
Court: High Court of Delhi
Coram: Justice Anup Jairam Bhambhani
Proceedings: CRL.REV.P. 37/2025

Court Observation

“There is no basis to hold that a woman cannot be charged with the offence of gang rape under section 376D IPC (replaced by Section 70 BNS) and section 70 BNS.”

Summary

A woman, the mother of a minor girl, challenged the framing of a gang-rape charge against her by the Additional Sessions Judge-05 (POCSO), Rohini. The allegation was that between December 2023 and July 2024 she forced her daughter into repeated sexual relations with a co-accused, remaining present during the assaults. She argued that a woman cannot be charged with gang rape, since the offence of rape under Indian law can be committed only by a man.

The High Court dismissed the revision and upheld the charge-framing. It held that a woman can be charged with gang rape under Section 376D of the IPC (replaced by Section 70 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023) even without personally committing the physical act, where she acted in furtherance of a common intention. Advocate Rohan J. Alva was appointed amicus curiae to assist the Court.

Key Holdings

• Gang rape under Section 376D IPC / Section 70 BNS is a substantive, standalone offence, not merely an aggravated form of rape; the phrase “one or more persons constituting a group” is gender-neutral, and there is no basis to restrict “persons” to men.
• The limbs of the provision are joined by the disjunctive “or”: every member of the group need not have committed the physical act; each is deemed to have committed it through common intention. A woman who did not commit the physical act may still be charged where she acted in furtherance of a common intention to have rape committed upon the victim.
• Quoting a German proverb, the Court observed: “He who holds the ladder is as guilty as the thief.”
• A woman alone cannot be charged with gang rape, as that would not conform to the current statutory definition of rape; the question of a woman as the sole accused was expressly left open for an appropriate case.
• The Court expressly left open whether the term “man” in Section 375 IPC / Section 63 BNS is gender-neutral.

Background

The criminal case was registered in July 2024 under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. The trial court framed the charge of gang rape under Section 70 BNS against the mother, and she approached the High Court in revision against the framing of that charge.

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Disclaimer: This is a summary prepared for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Readers should refer to the official judgment for the authoritative text.