A bench of High Court Justice Arijit Banerjee and Justice Biswaroop Chaudhary said that prima facie touching the victim’s breasts seems to be a case of sexual harassment, not an attempt to rape. The High Court said in its decision that based on the evidence and medical report of the victim, it seems prima facie that the accused did not attempt to rape the victim. The victim also reported that the accused was intoxicated and touched her breasts. This evidence suggests that sexual harassment has been committed under Section 10 of the Poxo Act, but prima facie it does not prove that it was an attempt to rape. The trial court of Kursiang, Bengal convicted the accused under the sections of Poxo and IPC and sentenced him to 12 years in jail. The accused appealed to the High Court against this decision. The accused’s lawyer Ashima Mandla claimed in the court that the victim said in her complaint that the accused had tried to kiss her, but there is no mention of touching her breasts in the complaint. The victim claimed in the lower court that the accused had also tried to touch her breasts, preventing her from going out of the house. The High Court had said that if a case of sexual harassment is also made in this case, then a sentence of five to seven years will be considered. The High Court has recently postponed the trial court’s decision and now it has been decided to postpone the next hearing. Earlier, a judge of the Allahabad High Court had said during the hearing of the case that opening the waistband of pajama and touching the breasts is not considered an attempt to rape. The Supreme Court had criticized this comment of the Allahabad High Court and now the Calcutta High Court has made this comment in a case.
The post is not an attempt to touch the breast, not an attempt to rape but sexual harassment: High Court first appeared on News India Live | Breaking India News, The Indian Headline, India Express News, Fast India News.
