Holding a woman's hand, pulling her and saying 'I love you' amounts to outraging her modesty: Chhattisgarh HC
The Chhattisgarh High Court has ruled that holding a womans hand, pulling her, and saying I love you amount to outraging her modesty under Section 354 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The case relates to a man who was sentenced to three years of rigorous imprisonment by a trial court after being found guilty under various provisions of the IPC and the Protection of Children against Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. He was 19-years-old at the time of the incident. The man was convicted for holding the victim's hand, pulling her towards him and saying I love you when she was returning from school. Justice Naresh Kumar Chandravanshi, while hearing an appeal filed against the man's conviction, held that the act amounts to outraging the victim's modesty. 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 rural area is considered highly objectionable, the court observed in its order. While upholding the conviction, the court modified the sentence, reducing it from three years to one year. It noted that the accused was a 19-year-old boy at the time of the incident and that, apart from holding the victims hand, pulling her and saying I love you, he had not committed any other objectionable act. Noting that the accused is currently on bail, the high court directed him to surrender before the concerned court and undergo the remaining portion of the jail sentence. The trial court, in its 2022 order, had convicted the accused not only for outraging the womans modesty but also for sexual assault under the POCSO Act. However, the high court set aside the POCSO conviction, holding that it was not sustainable as the prosecution had failed to prove that the victim was a minor on the date of the incident. While examining the issue, the high court elaborated on the meaning of modesty. It noted that the term denotes the quality of being modest and, in relation to a woman, refers to womanly propriety of behaviour; scrupulous chastity of thought, speech and conduct. Referring to Websters Third New International Dictionary, the court said 'modesty' is defined as freedom from coarseness, indelicacy or indecency: a regard for propriety in dress, speech or conduct. It also cited the Oxford English Dictionary, which defines 'modesty' as womanly propriety of behaviour; scrupulous chastity of thought, speech and conduct (in man or woman); reserve or sense of shame proceeding from instinctive aversion to impure or coarse suggestions.
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