Five-year jail to man for touching minor inappropriately
What's the story
Setting an example, the Delhi HC has clamped down on cases of sexual assault considered "minor" and awarded five years' jail to a man for inappropriately touching a nine-year-old girl.
"No one can touch a woman without her consent," it ruled, adding she has exclusive right over her body.
Men tend to violate women's privacy and don't think twice about misbehaving, the HC observed.
Case
Man claimed he was falsely implicated
The incident happened on September 25, 2014, in a crowded market in North Delhi's Mukherjee Nagar.
UP resident Chavi Ram inappropriately touched a nine-year-old girl and tried to molest her, who immediately informed her mother.
Ram tried to escape but was caught.
He claimed he had been falsely implicated; someone else had done it and the minor had misidentified him, he argued.
Information
"Sexual pervert" fined Rs. 10,000
Rejecting his claim, the court said his sexual intent was clear, that he took advantage of the crowd. The "sexual pervert" was fined Rs. 10,000, from which Rs. 5,000 would go to the girl. The state Legal Service Authority will also pay her Rs. 50,000.
Observation
'Unfortunate that females continue to be consistently victimized'
Awarding the sentence, the court observed, "Such perverts get a sexual kick by assaulting the women, oblivious to the rights of privacy of the female gender including a female child."
"It is unfortunate that females, be it adults or children, continue to be consistently victimized by lecherous and sexually pervert male folk, found in abundance in public places," the court said.