Courts must be sensitive while hearing rape cases, says Kerala High Court Updated: Updated: “They must hear the victims before deciding on anticipatory bail pleas of accused” Share Article “They must hear the victims before deciding on anticipatory bail pleas of accused” The Kerala High Court has held that criminal courts should be sensitive while dealing with sexual violence cases and should hear the victims before deciding on anticipatory bail pleas of the accused. Justice Alexander Thomas was considering a plea by a rape survivor against the anticipatory bail granted by a court in Kasaragod to an accused. Though there was no statutory obligation, “there is judicial duty, emerging out of the principles of fairness, that the victims should be heard in all cases of anticipatory bail” in sexual violence cases, he observed.