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Time of India
02-07-2025
- Time of India
Saying ‘I love you' without sexual intent not harassment: Bombay HC acquits man in teen harassment case; overrules lower court verdict
NAGPUR: Saying 'I love you' does not amount to sexual harassment unless accompanied by conduct suggesting sexual intent, Bombay high court's Nagpur bench ruled Monday while overturning a 2017 conviction under the Pocso Act . Justice Urmila JoshiPhalke acquitted a 25-yearold man from Katol in Nagpur district, nearly eight years after he was sentenced to three years' rigorous imprisonment for harassing a 17year-old girl. He appealed the session court verdict in HC and was out on bail. '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' the judge said in her order. 'Words expressed as 'I love you' would not by themselves amount to 'sexual intent' as contemplated by the legislature,' she added. The case dated back to Oct 2015, when a class 11 student accused the man of stopping her and her cousin , grabbing her hand and saying: 'I love you'. Based on her complaint, police charged him under sections 354A (sexual harassment) and 354D (stalking) of IPC, along with Section 8 of Pocso Act. Two years later, the sessions court convicted him. His counsel Sonali Khobragade said his actions did not meet the legal threshold for sexual assault or stalking as there was no repeated contact or physical act indicating sexual intent. Justice Joshi-Phalke agreed. 'There should be something more that must suggest the real intention is to introduce the angle of sex…,' she said. 'The offence under Pocso Act is not made out as there is no allegation that the accused touched the girl with sexual intent.' Get the latest lifestyle updates on Times of India, along with Doctor's Day 2025 , messages and quotes!
Time of India
01-07-2025
- Time of India
HC: ‘I love you' not sexual harassment without intent
Nagpur: The Nagpur bench of Bombay high court on Monday acquitted 25-year-old man from Katol in Nagpur district eight years after being convicted under Pocso Act, outraging modesty and related charges for allegedly harassing a 17-year-old girl. 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". by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Perdagangkan CFD Emas dengan Broker Tepercaya IC Markets Mendaftar Undo 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 Get the latest lifestyle updates on Times of India, along with Doctor's Day 2025 , messages and quotes!
India Today
01-07-2025
- India Today
No sexual intent proven: High Court acquits man who said 'I love you' to girl
The Bombay High Court on Tuesday acquitted a 25-year-old man and quashed a three-year sentence handed over to him by the Nagpur Sessions court for sexually assaulting a minor after he held her hand and said "I love you" to her in Sonali Khobragade, appearing for the accused, appealed against the judgement of the Session Court, and submitted that to prove the charges of sexual harassment, the prosecution has to establish that there was physical contact by the accused with a "sexual intent" or a "demand" or a "request" for sexual favour or "making sexual coloured remarks", which are absent in the present note of the submission, the bench of Justice Urmila Joshi Phalke observed, "If somebody says that he is in love with another person or expresses his feelings itself would not amount to an "intent" showing some sort of "sexual intention". What constitutes such "sexuality" or "sexual intent" and what is not, is a question of fact. The 17-year-old girl had filed a complaint on October 23, 2015, alleging that when she got off the school bus along with her cousin on her way back home around 1:00 pm that day, a man intercepted her on his motorcycle. He held her hand, and said that until she disclosed her name, he would not let her go. He also said, "I love you" while she rescued herself from his clutches and rushed girl informed her father about the incident, following which an FIR was registered invoking relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. In court, the prosecution had brought in five witnesses, which included the girl, her friend and her father."Words expressed 'I Love You' would not by itself amount to 'sexual intent' as contemplated by the legislature. There should be something more which must suggest that the real intention is to drag in the angle of sex. If the words uttered are to be taken as conveying sexual intent, they should be reflected by the act," the bench court further noted that in order to ascertain the state of mind of the accused, there was not a single circumstance indicating that the accused's real intention was to establish sexual contact with the bench said that the offence under the POCSO Act was not made out as there is no allegation that the accused with "sexual intent" touched private part of the victim, involving physical contact."The sexual assault without penetration has not been proved by the prosecution beyond reasonable doubt," said the bench, while adding that the Judge of the trial court had not considered the definition and punishment of "sexual assault" given under the POCSO Act, and without considering the true import of the provision, convicted the accused, which is erroneous.- EndsMust Watch
Indian Express
01-07-2025
- Indian Express
Merely saying ‘I love you' without sexual intent isn't sexual harassment, says HC
The Nagpur Bench of Bombay High Court on Monday, overturned the conviction of a man accused of sexually harassing a minor, ruling that merely saying, 'I love you' does not, in itself, amount to sexual intent. The accused was previously found guilty of offences under sections 354 A (i) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Section 8 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (POCSO Act). The case stems from a report filed by the then 17-year-old- minor victim on 23 October, 2015. She had alleged that the accused came on his motorcycle, held her hands and said, 'I love you', while she was walking to her home with her cousin. Based on this report, the accused was booked. The trial court subsequently convicted the accused, sentencing him to three years of rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs 5,000, and two more months if he failed to pay the fine. The accused's lawyer, Sonali Khobragade, argued that there was previous enmity between the families and that the prosecution had failed to examine any independent witnesses. The lawyer also argued that the age of the victim was not proved. The prosecution, on the other hand, relied on the girl's testimony, along with statements from her cousin, who accompanied her during the incident and another witness, and her birth certificate to support their case. However, the High Court, confirmed that the victim's age was indeed proven by a valid public document (birth certificate),. The court emphasised that merely saying 'I love you' by itself does not amount to 'sexual intent' as contemplated by the legislature. Intention, the court noted, is something that has to be gathered from all surrounding circumstances. 'In this case, there was no inappropriate touch beyond holding the hand, no repeat behaviour, no suggestive body language, and no attempt to take the interaction any further,' the court stated. The court said that 'intention' is an inner state of mind that must be determined from surrounding facts and circumstances. For an act to be considered 'sexual' or to have 'sexual intent', it must be related to or associated with sex, or involve physical contact or express sexual overtures, indicating an intention to 'drag in the angle of sex'. The court observed that while the girl was indeed a minor, the alleged act did not meet the definition of 'sexual assault' under Section 7 of the POCSO Act, which involves touching private parts or making sexually motivated contact. The judgment also took note of the trial court's failure to carefully assess what qualifies as 'sexual intent' under the law. With this, the High Court allowed the appeal, acquitted the accused of all charges, and directed that he be released from jail immediately, unless he is involved in any other case. Any fine paid during the trial process is also to be refunded.
