NEW DELHI: A court has sentenced a 34-year-old man to five years of rigorous imprisonment for sexually harassing and criminally intimidating a minor on a social networking site. The court said it is the responsibility of society to protect children from exploitation by cyberstalkers or cyberbullies, observing that the psychological scars of childhood sexual abuse deeply impact the lives of innocent children.
ASJ Susheel Bala Dagar was hearing a case against convict Akhilesh Kumar who was booked under provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
Noting the submissions of public prosecutor Yogita Kaushik Dahiya, the court said it was proved that Kumar chatted with the minor after creating a fake identity, made sexually coloured remarks, and contacted or followed her online despite the girl’s clear disinterest.
“The said chat contained threatening messages to the victim, blackmailing her and asking her to be his online girlfriend, asking for a kiss, talking about sex...and threatening to create or fabricate her nude photograph if she resisted and did not accept his friendship,” the court added.
In an order dated March 13, the court said it is the responsibility of society as a whole to take care of its children and to protect them from psychological exploitation at the hands of sexual abusers, including cyberstalkers and cyberbullies.
“The convict has been found guilty of cyberstalking and cyberbullying the child. The convict had been threatening, teasing, embarrassing the victim and was thus found infringing on her privacy by making fake accounts and impersonation. Such acts of the convict cause an injury that leaves scars on the victim for the rest of her life,” the court said.
It sentenced Kumar to three years of rigorous imprisonment (RI) under section 12 (sexual harassment) of the POCSO Act and two years of RI under section 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC along with a total fine of `1 lakh.
22-year-old medical student accuses professor of molestation
A 22-year-old medical student has alleged that her professor sexually harassed her during a viva examination, police said. “On January 31, our practical exam was going on in a pharmacology department. At around 1.15 pm, I had to appear before an assistant professor of Pharmacology for a practical viva. The professor kept the chair close to himself even though students usually sit across the table from the teachers.”
The complainant said that he kept on asking her inappropriate questions, read the FIR. “He started asking me about injections and inappropriately touched my neck and tried to touch my private parts on the pretext of asking questions,” she alleged.