Chennai: The Madras high court has asked the Centre and the Tamil Nadu government to find out if the rise in sexual violence against women is due to fall in sex ratio or due to "sex starvation" among men in view of various cultural, religious and moral restrictions on sex.

Noting that incidence of sex crimes against women were shockingly rising every year and demanding urgent measures to stop such heinous offences, Justice N. Kirubakaran posed several questions for the Union and state governments as well as bodies such as the National Commission for Women (NCW). The judge wanted a response on the queries by January 10 next year.

"Sexual assault is violation of privacy, dignity, and honour causing permanent scar and continuous agony in the mind of the hapless victim. Everyone has a right over her/his body and no one has the right to infringe upon the same, without the consent of the person. In sexual assault, the victim's body in spite of resistance/opposition, is vitiated by the perpetrator by force," Justice Kirubakaran observed while dismissing bail applications moved by Andrews and Prabhu both accused in the rape and murder of a 60-year-old mentally challenged woman. The said culprits could neither be termed "'human beings"' nor "animals" as even animals are noble in their own way, the judge added.

In spite of stringent laws brought in after Nirbhaya incident in 2012, sexual assaults on women continued unabated, the judge said, adding that the offences had to be analysed and examined from psychological and sociological angles.

The judge then suo motu impleaded the central government and the NCW and directed them to file a response to his queries, including on:

Whether alcoholism is one of the main reasons for the spurt in such offences
Whether sexual violence against women is due to a fall in sex ratio due to female infanticide and feticide
Whether sexual violence against women is due to "sex starvation" among Indian men in view of various restrictions on sex on grounds of culture, religion, morality and ethics
Whether sex offences/crimes against women and girl children are due to lack of knowledge and understanding about sex, and
Whether the rise in sex crimes is due to easy accessibility and availability of pornographic material through the internet

Justice Kirubakaran also wanted the government to explore distributing modern devices/gadgets to women that can be used in times of distress or while facing sexual predators.