Eve-teasing is something which almost every woman has witnessed at least once or many times on regular basis. Mumbai court Judge recently convicted a man for teasing a minor by calling her an ‘item’, defining the word as derogatory and sexually harassing. The 25-year-old businessman has been sent to prison for one and a half year under Section 354 of the Indian Penal Code.
The sexual harassment case traces back to 2015. The judgement further notes that the man frequently used to tease women who would come past by Millat Nagar and had an evil eye on the victim.
In the conviction order, Special Judge SJ Ansari stated, “The accused addressed her by using the term ‘item’, a term generally used by boys to address girls in a derogatory fashion as it objectifies them in a sexual way. The same will clearly indicate his “intention” of outraging her modesty. Such offences require to be dealt with a heavy hand as a lesson needs to be meted out to such roadside Romeos, in order to safeguard the women from their uncalled for behaviour”.
The accused had been in custody from January 31, 2020, to April 2, 2020.
Understand the case
It was on July 14, 2015, when the victim was returning from her school and walking through the road of Millat Nagar, the accused was sitting with his friends and came behind her, pulled the victim’s hair and asked her “kya item kidhar ja rahi ho ?”. The 16-year-old girl feeling shamefaced confronted the accused and immediately called the police, which arrived at the spot when the accused fled.
The girl then with her father went to the police station and lodged an FIR. Since then the case was going on and finally now the court held the accused accountable for his actions. The statement of girl and her father was recorded then.
“As the victim ‘X’ felt ashamed, she told the accused not to do so. At this, he started abusing her and told her to do whatever she could as she could not harm him in any way. Hence, the victim gave a call to the number “100” from her mobile phone and asked for help. The police reached the spot within a short period. However, by that time, the accused had run away from the spot. The victim then went home and informed her father about the incident after which she went to Sakinaka Police Station with him”, states the order.
Accused statement
The 45-year-old businessman tried to save himself by saying in the court that he was friends with the victim and the reason behind the FIR is because the parents of the girl did not approve and liked their friendship. The court earlier called the evidence as ‘reliable’ but later on the accused did not bring the statement into the court.
“It’s true that there is nothing to show the fact of any other crime being registered against the accused. The fact, however, remains that the prosecution has proved the fact of the accused having outraged the modesty of a minor girl while she was walking in a lane and of having sexually harassed the said child. Consequently, there does not arise any question of granting the benefit of probation to the accused or showing unwarranted leniency to him”.
The court then underlined that the incident did not happen for the first time and that the accused used to follow the victim, often referring to her as “item”.
Despite the judgement, the fact remains the same that it took more than 6 years to deliver justice to the girl and to all those who were harassed by the accused and could not speak up like the 16-year-old.
“For the offence punishable under section 354 of the Indian Penal Code, the accused is sentenced to suffer Simple Imprisonment for one and half years and to pay a fine of Rs.500/- in default of which, he shall undergo further Simple Imprisonment for 3 months. 3. For the offence punishable under section 12 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012, the accused is sentenced to suffer Simple Imprisonment for a term of one year and six months and to pay a fine of Rs.500/- in default of which, he shall suffer further Simple Imprisonment for 3 months”, the order then noted.
