The Supreme Court (SC) has held that grabbing a woman’s breasts and pulling the string of her pyjama constitute an “attempt to rape”, overturning a controversial Allahabad High Court (HC) ruling that had termed the acts merely as “preparation to commit rape”, news agency PTI reported.

A bench comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and NV Anjaria observed that the HC’s order was liable to be quashed due to the “patently erroneous application of the settled principles of criminal jurisprudence”.