New Delhi: A Kerala court stated that just grabbing a woman’s hands and threatening her without any lustful intention does not amount to outraging her modesty and the person concerned cannot be convicted under Section 354 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), according to a report by Bar and Bench. The court held that mere assault or criminal force would not attract the offence under the IPC section and that there must be a culpable intention on the part of the accused to outrage a woman’s modesty.
"Mere assault or criminal force does not amount to an offence. The culpable intention to outrage the modesty of the victim is to be proved. Mere holding PW1’s hand and threatened her that he would kill her will not attract offence under Section 354 of IPC," stated the judgment passed by Judicial First Class Magistrate-II judge at Aluva, Santosh TK.
The court passed the judgment while hearing a case concerning an incident that took place in 2013. According to the prosecution, a woman had gone to offer her prayers at a temple when a man caught hold of her hand and threatened to kill her, reported Bar and Bench.
Based on her complaint, a criminal case filed against the accused, alleged that he had committed the offences under Sections 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) and 506(1) (criminal intimidation) of the IPC.
However, after going through the statements and evidence, the judge observed that the accused had no intention to outrage the modesty of the woman, even though he grabbed her hand and threatened to kill her.
“There is absolutely nothing on record to show that the accused uttered any indecent words or had any intention to use the victim to satisfy his lust,” the judge said, according to the Bar and Bench report.
The court quashed the charge under IPC section 354, but stated the accused was liable to be convicted under section 506(1) of IPC. He was sentenced to imprisonment for two months and a fine of Rs 5,000 was imposed on him.