Mumbai: 'Wanting To Talk To A Girl Is Not Sexual Harassment', Says Court; Acquits Man In POCSO Case

Mumbai: Asking a girl to stop and wanting to talk to her does not amount to sexual harassment, the special court for Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) held while acquitting a man.

Special judge Kalpana Patil observed that the girl never communicated to him her disinterest in talking with him. As per the prosecution case, the girl was studying in Class 8, in 2017, in a school at Kurla. On April 1 that year, she and her friends were on their way back home when the accused intercepted them near Gandhi Maidan and told her that he wanted to talk to her. However, the girl went to her friend’s house without responding to him.

When she left her friend’s house, the accused again called her by her name and then left on his bike. Later, the girl narrated the incident to her mother. It was alleged that the accused had followed the girl a month prior too. The mother then reported the incident to police.

The man was arrested by the Kurla police on April 3, 2017 and was released on bail a week later. The accused claimed that he was beaten up by Varma’s mother and other people claiming that he misbehaved with the girl. He alleged that when he went to file the complaint against them, they filed a case against him.

The special judge said there is no reference in the oral evidence of the girl that at any point of time she communicated her disinterest in talking with the man.