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Mumbai, Nov 4 (PTI) A special court has sentenced a 27-year-old man to three months of imprisonment for sexually harassing a minor on board a local train, noting that traveling in the general compartment does not justify any male passenger repeatedly touching a woman. Special judge Neeta Anekar passed the order on November 1, holding the accused guilty of the offences committed under Indian Penal Code (IPC) section section 354(D) (stalking) as well as relevant provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. The court sentenced him to three months of jail, but granted a set-off for the period under detention during the trial from January 4, 2019 to April 15, 2019. As per the prosecution, the 17-year-old victim claimed that the accused had been chasing her for about a year. He would repeatedly board the same train compartment she used for her college commute from Borivali to Vile Parle. The specific incident on January 4, 2019, occurred when the victim was traveling with her elder brother, the prosecution said. The victim and her brother boarded the Borivali slow local at Vile Parle station around 6 pm. The accused also boarded the same train and stood near her. When the train reached Andheri station, the accused came close to the victim, started pushing her, and repeatedly touched her thigh. The victim signaled her brother, who witnessed the incident and caught the accused. The accused was then taken to the police station with the help of police officials at Borivali station. The court accepted the testimony of the victim and her brother, noting that the victim’s account of being followed and touched was reliable. The defence had challenged the victim’s testimony on the ground he has a first class pass and hence there was no reason for her to travel in second class during peak rush hour. The court stressed that second-class compartments in a city like Mumbai are extremely crowded during such times. “However, the fact that the victim was traveling in a second-class compartment despite having a first-class pass is not sufficient to discredit her testimony,” the court said. The special judge pointed out that during the cross-examination, it was told that her college friends often traveled with her, and they typically used the second-class compartment. It is entirely plausible that the victim chose to travel with her friends in the second-class compartment, the court noted. “While it is true that the compartment in question was not reserved for women passengers, this does not justify any male passenger repeatedly touching a female passenger,” it added. PTI AVI NP
