New Delhi: 'Touching the chest without taking off clothes is not sexual harassment', this decision of Bombay High Court has been in a lot of controversies earlier, which has now also been stayed by the top court. Another judgment of the Bombay High Court has come out which states that holding the hand of a minor girl and opening the zip of the pants cannot be considered as sexual assault under the POSCO Act. According to the media report, the court held that doing so under Section 354-A (1) (i) of the IPC falls under the category of 'sexual harassment'.
Earlier on 19 January, the same bench of Bombay HC had said that the person had touched the baby's chest without removing her clothes, so it cannot be called sexual harassment. Instead, it becomes a crime to offend a woman's dignity under Section 354 of the IPC. A single bench of Judge Pushpa Ganeediwala of Nagpur Bench ruled on a criminal appeal against the conviction of a 50-year-old man for molesting a five-year-old girl. The 50-year-old man was convicted by the Sessions Court and sentenced to five years rigorous imprisonment along with a simple imprisonment for six months and a fine of Rs 25,000, considering him a 'sexual harassment' punishable under Section 10 of POCSO.
A complaint was lodged by the girl's mother, after which the case came to light. In the complaint, the girl's mother had said that she had seen the accused, who opened the zip of pants and was holding her daughter's hand. Later in the testimony, she said that her daughter told her that the accused removed the penis from his pants and asked her to come to bed and sleep. However, the single bench did not consider sections 8, 10 and 12 of the POSCO Act to be suitable for this punishment and convicted the accused under section 354A (1) (i), which mostly provides for imprisonment of three years. The court also considered that the accused has served a sentence of five months in jail, which is enough for this crime.
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