The Kerala High Court has ruled that commenting on a woman’s physical appearance is a punishable offense of sexual harassment. High Court Judge A. Badruddin gave this decision while rejecting the application of a former employee of Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) in this regard. In the petition, the accused had requested for quashing of the sexual harassment case filed against him by a female employee of KSEB.
The woman alleges that the accused has been using abusive language towards her since 2013. While working together in KSEB, the accused saw the woman and said ‘okay’. Then in 2016-17, he started sending objectionable messages and voice calls. The woman complained about this to KSEB and the police, but the objectionable messages continued. Following the woman’s complaints, the accused was booked under IPC sections 354-A (sexual harassment), 509 (outraging the modesty of a woman) and section 120-O (harassment by using any means of communication for making unwanted calls, sending letters). ) case was registered under. text or message) of the Kerala Police Act, an offense was registered. The accused filed a petition to quash the case and said that commenting on someone’s physical beauty cannot be called sexual harassment. The prosecution argued that the accused’s phone calls and messages contained lewd comments.
