A man was sentenced to jail on Saturday for allegedly flashing at a 17-year-old girl in 2022 by a court in Maharashtra's Thane. The convict, identified as Mehafuj Maksood Aalam Shaikh has already been in prison for nearly 17 months, PTI reported. The court, in its order, stated that the convict shall be at liberty to get set off for the period he has undergone in jail, under section 428 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).
The incident happened on September 7, 2022, when Shaikh flashed at the teenage girl near a hotel in Thane's Shanti Nagar area. Subsequently, he was arrested by the police a few days later after the victim filed a complaint, PTI reported.
On February 12, an order was passed by a special court judge D S Deshmukh, who hears cases related to the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POSCO) Act which stated that Shaikh was held guilty under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) section 509 (insulting the modesty of any woman by uttering any word, making a sound or gesture, or exhibiting any object).
The court also imposed a fine of Rs 5,000 on him and directed that the amount recovered from the convict should be paid to the victim as compensation. The case has further been referred to the District Legal Services Authority (DLSA) to ensure the victim receives further compensation, PTI reported.
In another similar case in 2023, a 24-year-old man was arrested for flashing at a minor girl who was traveling with her mother on a local train in Maharashtra's Thane. The accused was sitting opposite the woman and her daughter when he allegedly flashed the girl and also made some gestures. Thane's Government Railway Police was alerted after the girl's mother raised an alarm, following which the man was apprehended, TOI reported.
A 50-year-old man was arrested in a similar case in December 2023 after he flashed at minor girls in Mumbai's Kandivali West. He was held by Kandivali police after a woman recorded his act and approached the police.