A Mumbai court has sentenced a 25-year-old businessman to one and half years in prison, ruling that referring to an unknown woman as “item” and grabbing her hair amounted to outraging her modesty and is punishable under Section 354 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), reported Live Law.
Delivering the order, Justice special judge SJ Ansari stated the word “item” is used to address a woman in a derogatory manner and is akin to sexual objectification, in order to outrage the modesty of a woman, as per Live Law.
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The judge further refused to release the convict on the furnishing of a bond on grounds of good behaviour under the Probation of Offenders Act. The judge observed that there was no question of letting the convict go as it was necessary to teach other “road side romeos” a lesson. This punishment should serve as a deterrent against any kind of uncalled-for behaviour against women, according to Live Law.
The minor girl had accused the man of harassing her along with his friend after she had moved to Mumbai’s suburban locality in Sakinaka, a month before the alleged incident. The girl further complained that the man would follow her and call her “item.” However, the woman was forced to call the police, when on July 14, 2015, the man grabbed the 16-year-old girl by her hair and asked “kya item kidhar ja rahi ho?” and then remarked “ae item sun na.” On protesting, the man started abusing the girl.
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The convict Abrar Khan immediately fled the spot before the police arrived. An FIR was lodged immediately and Khan applied for an anticipatory bail. Khan’s counsel argued that he was being framed by the victim, claiming that the convict was the victim’s friend and her family opposed to their relationship.
Stating that the charges of stalking were not proven, the court ruled that there was ample evidence to suggest that the convict had pulled the victim’s hair and called her “item,” thus, outraging her modesty, adding that the victim and the convict were not known to each other, reported Live Law. The court convicted the man under Section 354 of IPC and Section 12 of the POSCO Act.