India, Aug. 4 -- It is "unpardonable and impermissible in any civilised society" to judge a woman by the clothes she wears or draw conclusions about her virtue, modesty or character, an expert committee constituted pursuant to Supreme Court directions has said, recommending a sweeping overhaul of the language and approach adopted by judges in sexual offence cases to eliminate stereotypes and prevent the secondary victimisation of survivors.

The committee, headed by former Supreme Court judge Justice Aniruddha Bose, has called for the creation of a new "language ecosystem" in the judiciary that replaces patriarchal, moralistic and stigmatising expressions with neutral, survivor-centric terminology.

Its report, "Judgments and Gender: Sens...