Mumbai court imposes one-day sentence on man for molesting woman on local train

Mumbai: A court here imposed a one-day sentence on a 49-year-old man for molesting a woman onboard a suburban local train in 2019.

In the order dated December 4, Metropolitan Magistrate B K Gawande held that the offence was “heinous in nature” and hence, the accused could not be given the benefit of probation.

As per the case details, the woman was travelling on a local train of the Western Railway on August 13, 2019, when she was allegedly molested by the accused repeatedly.

The woman and her brother then scolded the accused and took him to the Bandra railway police station.

The court noted that the evidence of the complainant woman and other witnesses established that the incident had occurred.

“The evidence of the informant (woman) clearly established that the accused did the said act (molestation) with an intention and knowledge that by doing such act the modesty of the informant would certainly be outraged,” the court said.

It said that the prosecution has proven that the accused committed an offence under section 354 (outraging modesty of a woman) of the Indian Penal Code beyond a reasonable doubt.

The court, while refusing to grant the accused the benefit of probation, said the offence committed by him was “heinous in nature”.

“It is clear from the evidence on record that the accused was found outraging the modesty of the informant woman, which goes to show that the accused could have had worse intention,” the court said.

The court directed the man to suffer the sentence till the rising of the court and imposed a fine of Rs 1,000 on him.

The court also refused to accept the accused’s claim that he was implicated in the case and said the woman did not have any personal enmity with him from before.