HC: ‘I love you' not sexual harassment without intent
The court observed that merely saying 'I love you' does not constitute sexual harassment unless accompanied by conduct that indicates sexual intent. "If somebody says that he is in love with another person or expresses his feelings that in itself would not amount to an intent showing some sort of sexual intention," Justice Urmila Joshi-Phalke noted.
"Words expressed as 'I love you' would not by themselves amount to 'sexual intent' as contemplated by the legislature," the court said.
"There should be something more that must suggest the real intention is to introduce the angle of sex… It should be reflected by the act." The court said that a sexual act includes inappropriate touching, forcible disrobing, indecent gestures or remarks made with an intent to insult the modesty of a woman.
The case stemmed from an October 23, 2015, incident in Khapa village near Nagpur, where a girl, then Class 11 student, alleged that the accused stopped her and her cousin on a road near an agricultural field, caught her hand, asked for her name, and said, "I love you".
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Based on her complaint, he was booked under sections 354A and 354D of IPC, and Section 8 of Pocso Act.
In 2017, a sessions court sentenced him to three years' rigorous imprisonment and fined him Rs5,000. He later challenged the verdict through advocate Sonali Khobragade, arguing there was no physical act that met the threshold for sexual assault under Pocso, nor any repeated contact to constitute stalking.
Justice Joshi-Phalke agreed, ruling that the prosecution failed to establish any "gesture in the nature of eye expression or body language" indicating intent.
"On considering the evidence of prosecution... there is not a single circumstance indicating that the accused's real intention was to establish sexual contact with the victim," she said.
She noted that the utterance 'I love you' occurred only once and in the presence of the girl's cousin, which was not enough to prove sexual harassment. "The offence under Section 8 of the Pocso Act is not made out as there is no allegation that the accused touched the girl with sexual intent," the court held.
Criticising the trial court for overlooking key legal definitions, she stated, "Without considering the true import of the provision, the judge convicted the accused, which is erroneous." The HC quashed the lower court's judgment and ordered the man's immediate release.
Key takeaways from verdict
- There must be clear gestures or acts indicating a desire for sexual contact for Pocso provisions to apply
- A single utterance without repeated contact or stalking is insufficient to establish criminal intent
- No touching of private parts or physical contact of a sexual nature was proven
- Trial court misapplied definitions under IPC and Pocso Act
- HC quashed conviction and ordered immediate release of the accused
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