17 days post-incident, court awards 3-year jail to man for stalking, harassing woman

Mumbai: A 53-year-old man, arrested for stalking and assaulting a woman with intent to outrage her modesty, was sentenced to three years in jail by a city court on Tuesday, just over two weeks after the incident here, an official said.

The Lokmanya Tilak Marg Police Station in South Mumbai, which arrested the accused and probed the case, filed a charge sheet within a fortnight of the incident, he said.

The incident took place on September 18 near a garden on Maharshi Karve Road where the accused, Rajkumar Tandel, stalked a woman and flashed at her, the official said.

A complaint was filed by the victim at the Lokmanya Tilak Marg Police Station and subsequently, an FIR registered under IPC sections 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) and 354 D (stalking), among others, against the accused, he said.

During the investigation, the police arrested Tandel, he said.

The 53-year-old had been involved in similar offenses in the past too and faces two cases in different police stations in south Mumbai, the official said.

The probe in the latest case was completed quickly and the charge sheet was submitted in the court on September 28, he said.

The court on Tuesday sentenced the accused to three-year rigorous imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 1000, the official said.