Mumbai, Jan 8 (Mumbai Mirror): The Bombay High Court on Thursday came out with an innovative way of dealing with a case of attempted murder and molestation where the victim had consented for setting aside the case against the accused. While granting the relief, the court directed the four accused to sweep public roads in Thane for six months.

The division bench of Justice Ranjit More and Justice VL Achliya, on Thursday accepted the offer of sweeping the roads from accused Ankit Jadhav, Suhas Thakur, Milind More and Amit Adkhale. The court, however, doubled the duration mentioned on behalf of the accused from three months to six.

The four were accused of molestation and attempt to murder in October last year, but had approached the court seeking to quash the case contending that the victim family had agreed to the same.

"Will sweeping the roads clean the dirt in your mind as well? That is something that needs to happen," asked the bench. The court then turned towards the victims and inquired if they had consented for quashing of the case. The reply was affirmative after which the court passed the order.

The petition mentioned that if the court agreed to quash the case, the accused will do community service and something good for the society. An officer from the Naupada police station - where the original case was registered - has been directed to monitor the community service by the accused. The accused are supposed to perform the job between 7 and 11 am and then between 4 and 7pm every Sunday for the next six months.

The case against the accused was that they molested a lady during the Dussehra procession in October last year. Noticing this, another member of the procession intervened and tried to stop the accused, after which they beat him up with rods. A case was then registered at the Naupada police station. The accused have also been directed to pay Rs 5,000 each to the Tata Memorial Hospital.