Bombay High Court Quashes FIR Against Man Booked For Insulting Woman's Modesty By 'Moving His Hands Over Nude Lady-Shaped Paperweight'

The Bombay High Court recently quashed a First Information Report (FIR) lodged against a Superintendent Engineer of the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL), who was booked for insulting the modesty of a female employee by moving his hands over a paperweight, which the complainant said depicted the shape of a 'nude lady.'

A division bench of Justices Vibha Kankanwadi and Santosh Chapalgaonkar quashed the FIR after refusing to accept the contention of the complainant, an executive engineer in the MSEDCL, who was a junior to the applicant. 

The complainant contended that whenever she entered the cabin of the applicant, he would move his hands in a certain fashion on the nude lady shaped paperweight, viewing which, she felt embarrassed and insulted. She contended that some other women in the office, too experienced similar insult. She therefore, filed a complaint under the Prevention of Sexual Harassment (PoSH) and the Vishakha Committee of the MSEDCL conducted an enquiry based on her plea. However, by an order passed on August 3, 2022, the Committee concluded that the complainant failed to prove her case. Subsequently, she lodged an FIR under section 509 of the IPC on August 21, 2022.

The judges noted that the chargesheet comprised various statements, one of which was of one of the male colleagues of the complainant, who claimed to have seen the statue in the cabin of the applicant. However, the judges found no material in the said statement.

"Merely observance of the said statue by this witness witness will not be helpful to the prosecution to prove the offence under Section 509 of the Indian Penal Code, because the applicant is not disputing that such paperweight was on his table," the bench said.

Further, the judges took into account the statements of a few women employees of the MSEDCL, who did not support the prosecution story.

"...rather they say that they had not felt that their modesty is insulted because of the said paperweight. Importance is required to be given to these statements, because they are by the lady employees and according to them they had not felt bad even after witnessing the said paperweight," the bench emphasised.

It further took into account, "It is stated by the informant that the applicant used to move his hands on the paperweight in such a fashion that it caused insult to her modesty. If we consider the photographs of the said statue, then we cannot say that it is of a particular gender. Further, the panchnama, at the time of seizure of that article, also does not say that it could be identified from the said paperweight that it is a statue of a nude lady."

Further, the judges noted from the copy of the order passed by the Vishakha Committee that by giving full opportunity to the complainant, the Committee had come to the conclusion that there were no acts of sexual harassment at the workplace.

"Therefore, when such documents are available, then certainly this Court can exercise its powers for quashing the FIR. It appears that the complainant wanted to settle her personal score. There is delay in lodging the FIR. The action by Vishakha Committee was independent. The informant ought not to have waited for the outcome of the decision by the Committee," the judges opined while quashing the FIR.

Appearance:

Advocate AS Bajaj appeared for the Applicant.

Additional Public Prosecutor VK Kotecha represented the State.

Advocate SV Kulkarni represented the Complainant.

Case Title: XYZ vs State of Maharashtra (Criminal Application 931 of 2023)

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