Daijiworld Media Network - Raipur
Raipur, Dec 24: The Chhattisgarh High Court has held that holding a woman’s hand, pulling her towards oneself and saying “I love you” amounts to outraging her modesty under Section 354 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
The ruling came while Justice Naresh Kumar Chandravanshi was hearing an appeal filed by a man who was convicted by a trial court and sentenced to three years of rigorous imprisonment. The accused was 19 years old at the time of the incident.
According to the prosecution, the man held the victim’s hand, pulled her towards him and said “I love you” when she was returning home from school. The trial court had convicted him under various provisions of the IPC as well as the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act in its 2022 order.
Upholding the conviction under Section 354 IPC, the high court observed, “In the instant case, the appellant not only held the hand of the victim, rather he also pulled her towards him by saying ‘I love you’. Such behaviour of a young boy with any girl, particularly of a rural area, is considered highly objectionable.”
However, considering the age of the accused at the time of the incident and the nature of the act, the court reduced the sentence from three years to one year. It noted that apart from the said act, the accused had not indulged in any other objectionable behaviour.
The high court also set aside the conviction under the POCSO Act, holding that it was not sustainable as the prosecution failed to establish that the victim was a minor on the date of the incident.
Since the accused is currently on bail, the court directed him to surrender before the concerned court and undergo the remaining portion of his sentence.
While explaining the meaning of “modesty”, the high court referred to standard dictionaries, stating that the term signifies womanly propriety of behaviour, scrupulous chastity of thought, speech and conduct, and freedom from coarseness or indecency, reflecting a regard for propriety in conduct and expression.