The Mumbai court rejected the man’s plea that the act was not deliberate but a commuter behind him pushed him and consequently he fell on the woman resulting in his lips touching her cheek
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A 37-year-old man was sentenced to one year rigorous imprisonment along with a fine of Rs 10,000 after a court in Mumbai found him guilty of forcibly kissing a woman on her cheek in a local train seven years ago.
In his plea, the accused stated that the act was not deliberate, but a commuter behind him had pushed him and consequently, he fell on the woman which resulted in his lips touching her cheek. However, Metropolitan Magistrate VP Kedar rejected his plea, Bar and Bench reported.
While hearing the matter, the court observed that a woman has the ability to gauge a man’s intention from his look and touch.
“It is said that the women are far more perceptive than men, and this has given rise to what is commonly referred to as women’s intuition. Women have innate ability to pick up and decipher non verbal signals as well as having an accurate eye for small details… Woman knows a man’s intention when he touches her or looks her,” the Court stated.
“Their testimonies had gone unchallenged and remained unshaken. Mere suggestion that the incident occurred inadvertently does not come rescue of the accused in absence of any further explanation or some material which could be acceptable,” it added.
Observing that the act amounted to an attack on the victim’s dignity and deserved conviction under Section 354 (outraging modesty of woman) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the court convicted and sentenced the accused — Kiran Subraya Honavar.
Earlier, the victim testified in court that back on August 28, 2015, she went to Govandi to meet a friend. At around 1.20 pm, the victim along with her friend boarded a local train from Govandi to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT). The accused boarded the train at Masjid station and sat near them. She informed that she was aware that he was gazing at her, but she chose to ignore him.
Thereafter, the victim and her friend stood up to alight when the train approached CSMT, as did the accused seated across from them. The accused then kissed the victim on her right cheek unexpectedly. Soon after, she raised an alarm, and the man was beaten up by several commuters before being transported to the CSMT Railway Police Station.
Besides the victim, two additional witnesses testified that they saw the accused getting beaten up by commuters on the train after the woman raised an alert.
With input from agencies
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