MUMBAI: Observing that the offence is heinous in nature and there is no reason to let off the accused on a bond of good behaviour, a Magistrate’s court sentenced to “rising of the court” a 45-year-old man for repeatedly touching the bottom of a woman on a Churchgate-bound local in 2019.
When an accused is sentenced until the rising of the court, he is held in custody until the day’s proceedings end.The woman who was accompanied by her brother caught the accused, Raju Chavan, and handed him over to the police. Metropolitan magistrate B K Gawande said the woman’s evidence clearly established that the accused did the act with an intention and knowledge that her modesty would certainly be outraged.
“It is also submitted that no lady will put stigma upon her merely because somebody touched her buttocks and without any reason,” the magistrate said. The woman deposed that the incident took place on August 13, 2019, between 9.24am and 9.28am at Bandra railway station. On the day of the incident, her brother and she were travelling from Borivli railway station to Elphinstone by Churchgate fast local train. At Bandra railway station, the woman stood near the door as she was about to get down at Dadar railway station. At that time, the accused stood behind her and started touching her buttocks. The woman shouted, “what is going on”. At that time, the accused said, “It was wrong, sorry”.
The accused, however, repeated the act after which the woman picked up a quarrel with the accused. Her brother, who was seated in the same compartment, noticed the incident. The siblings then caught hold of the accused and alighted at Bandra railway station. There, they informed the police about the incident. The woman’s brother, too, deposed. The magistrate refuted the defence of the accused that some other passenger may have touched her. “It is already on record that the informant was not knowing the accused prior to the incident. There is no enmity between the informant and the accused to implicate him in a false case. Therefore, suggestion given by the defence in the cross-examination of the informant are without any basis,” the magistrate said.
The magistrate said that as far as the defence of the accused is concerned, it finds no place in existence of concrete evidence on record. “If evidence of the informant and other witnesses are minutely perused, then it is very well established that the incident, as stated by the informant, has actually taken place. By bringing the evidence on record, the prosecution has proved that the accused on relevant date, time and place committed the offence,” said the magistrate.
(The victim’s identity has not been revealed to protect her privacy as per Supreme court directives on cases related to sexual assault)
When an accused is sentenced until the rising of the court, he is held in custody until the day’s proceedings end.The woman who was accompanied by her brother caught the accused, Raju Chavan, and handed him over to the police. Metropolitan magistrate B K Gawande said the woman’s evidence clearly established that the accused did the act with an intention and knowledge that her modesty would certainly be outraged.
“It is also submitted that no lady will put stigma upon her merely because somebody touched her buttocks and without any reason,” the magistrate said. The woman deposed that the incident took place on August 13, 2019, between 9.24am and 9.28am at Bandra railway station. On the day of the incident, her brother and she were travelling from Borivli railway station to Elphinstone by Churchgate fast local train. At Bandra railway station, the woman stood near the door as she was about to get down at Dadar railway station. At that time, the accused stood behind her and started touching her buttocks. The woman shouted, “what is going on”. At that time, the accused said, “It was wrong, sorry”.
The accused, however, repeated the act after which the woman picked up a quarrel with the accused. Her brother, who was seated in the same compartment, noticed the incident. The siblings then caught hold of the accused and alighted at Bandra railway station. There, they informed the police about the incident. The woman’s brother, too, deposed. The magistrate refuted the defence of the accused that some other passenger may have touched her. “It is already on record that the informant was not knowing the accused prior to the incident. There is no enmity between the informant and the accused to implicate him in a false case. Therefore, suggestion given by the defence in the cross-examination of the informant are without any basis,” the magistrate said.
The magistrate said that as far as the defence of the accused is concerned, it finds no place in existence of concrete evidence on record. “If evidence of the informant and other witnesses are minutely perused, then it is very well established that the incident, as stated by the informant, has actually taken place. By bringing the evidence on record, the prosecution has proved that the accused on relevant date, time and place committed the offence,” said the magistrate.
(The victim’s identity has not been revealed to protect her privacy as per Supreme court directives on cases related to sexual assault)
