RAIPUR: Is saying ‘I Love You’ to a girl publicly amount to sexual assault? It’s not, going by the judgment of the Chhattisgarh High Court.
The court pronounced the verdict while considering an appeal against a lower court order on July 24. It dismissed all charges against an accused, who was booked for stalking, insulting the modesty and sexual assault, along with the provisions of SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
The court said merely saying ‘I Love You’ to a girl publicly would not amount to sexual assault.
Earlier, a trial court, after examining the prosecution’s evidence, held that the accused was not involved in the alleged crime, following which an appeal was filed in the High Court.
On October 14, 2019, the accused came across the 15-year-old girl returning home from school with two friends in Kurud, Dhamtari district, about 80 km south of Raipur. He reportedly expressed his ‘fondness’ by saying, “I love you, XXX” (with XXX denoting the girl's name).
The girl then filed a police complaint and the case was registered against the accused under IPC Sections 354-D (stalking), 509 (insulting the modesty), Section 8 of POCSO Act (sexual assault) and SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
The High Court stated that no witness was examined regarding the girl’s birth certificate, nor were original documents or school records produced. As a result, the accused was not found guilty under the POCSO Act.
The court also observed that the accused’s solitary act, described as an “expression of love,” and a close examination of statements by the girl and her friends, did not amount to sexual assault under the POCSO Act and did not warrant criminal liability.
Considering the statements by the two friends with whom the girl was returning home and those by her parents, the court inferred there seems only a single act of expressing “love by the accused” towards the girl on October 14, so he is acquitted from committing the act of stalking.
The court also observed that the essential ingredients to attract the criminal acts under ’Stalking’ and ‘insult the modesty' of the girl were not found to be established by convincing reliable evidence to attribute the accused guilty in both offences.
The court further maintained that there is no evidence to show that the alleged wrongdoing under SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act was committed only on the ground that the victim was a member of scheduled caste.