Gonads with the judicial wind

Earlier this month, the Karnataka High Court ruled that squeezing a man's testicles during a fight cannot be called an 'attempt to murder', even if the unusual act of violence 'accidentally' led to death. The court overturned a trial court verdict that had earlier convicted a 38-year-old man to seven years' imprisonment under Section 307 (attempt to murder) for the criminal pincer movement he had committed in 2010. The perpetrator has now been sentenced to three years' prison under Section 325 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt).

The 'Parameshwarappa vs State' verdict is no laughing matter, despite the schoolboy jokes it is likely to spawn. It brings to the fore a particularly unpleasant form of an unpleasant condition - death - to the fore. It is also a testament to the extremely sensitive nature of the testes. The fight, leading up to the fatal injury a medical procedure failed to treat, took place 13 years ago and was witnessed by 10 individuals, whom the prosecution had examined. As it happens, the word 'testis' is thought to have its roots in the Latin word for 'witness'. According to Roman law, a single witness is not enough in a trial and must at least come in 'a pair'. Thus, the extension of testis to both testicles and testimony.