Maharashtra: Man makes rude gesture towards 66-year-old woman, gets 6 months’ jail for sexual harassment

At a signal, his car stopped next to theirs and the accused rolled down his window and made a rude gesture towards the informant and her son and used derogatory words, police said. The accused was then stopped by the informant’s son and a complaint was filed at Gamdevi police station.

The accused claimed that the informant’s son had also abused him but a complaint was not filed against the latter as he was a lawyer and had used his influence to file a false FIR.

The court rejected this contention and said there is no reason for traffic police officials to depose against the accused.

“It is also fact that though police and advocate are related to the legal system, they are independent. Merely because the son of the informant is an advocate does not mean that police can take false FIR at his instance,” the court said. The accused had also said no independent witnesses were examined, but the court said that since the incident happened in a car, people would not have noticed it and many also do not want to get involved in such incidents. It also did not accept the accused’s contention that no CCTV footage was brought as evidence so the allegations cannot be proved.

“There is no reason for a lady of 66 years of age to make a false acquisition of vulgar gestures and vulgar abusive words without any reason in front of her son. Therefore, there is no reason to disbelieve her,” the court said. The court found the accused guilty of sexual harassment but acquitted him of charges of stalking.