S.354 IPC | To Establish Mens Rea, Something More Than Vague Statements Must Be Produced : Supreme Court Quashes Chargesheet

The Supreme Court, recently (on January 02), observed that for Section 354 IPC (Assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) to apply, criminal force must be used. Further, such application of force must be coupled with intention to outrage a woman's modesty.

The Bench of Justices Sanjay Karol and C.T. Ravikumar added that in order to establish mens rea something better than vague statements must be produced before the court. Mere bald assertions of mental and physical discomfort would not suffice.

The brief facts of the case are such that the appellant and respondent no. 2 were directors in a joint concern namely M/s LAJ-IDS Exports Pvt. Ltd. Respondent no.2 filed a complaint against the appellant of inappropriate behaviour in the workplace. Subsequently, a complaint was registered under Section 354 and Section 506 (Punishment for Criminal Intimidation) under IPC. Aggrieved by this, the appellant approached the High Court for quashing of the complaint. However, the High Court refused to grant any such relief observing that it could not undertake a “microscopic examination of facts and evidence to thwart the prosecution case”. Thus, the present case.

At the outset, the Apex Court observed that while Court cannot conduct a mini-trial, it must consider whether the alleged offences are prima facie made out.

“To put it differently, it is to be seen, without undertaking a minute examination of the record, that there is some substance in the allegations made which could meet the threshold of statutory language.,” it added.

It went on to observe that while criminal force is defined under IPC, there is no such definition of modesty. However, the Court relied on several cases including the recent one Attorney General v. Satish for the meaning of modesty.

After perusing the FIR and respondent's statement, the Court concluded that no offence under Section 354 was made out. It reasoned that even prima facie the ingredients were not met. Further, no evidence established the appellant's intent.

“It is well settled that for mens rea to be established, something better than vague statements must be produced before the court. As evidenced by the annexures referred to above, i.e. the FIR, the preliminary investigation report as also the concluding portion of the chargesheet, no direct allegation nor any evidence in support thereof can be found attributing intent to the appellant. It cannot be said, then, that a case u/s 354 IPC is made out against the appellant.''

Coming to the offence of criminal intimidation, the Court said that a mere statement without intention would not attract the offence. It referred to the recent case of Sharif Ahmed v. State of U.P., wherein it held:

“An offence of criminal intimidation arises when the accused intendeds to cause alarm to the victim, though it does not matter whether the victim is alarmed or not. The intention of the accused to cause alarm must be established by bringing evidence on record. The word 'intimidate' means to make timid or fearful, especially : to compel or deter by or as if by threats.”

Having this background in place, the Court said that the examination of FIR, interim investigation report and the chargesheet, did not disclose any offence. Before allowing the appeal, the Court also discussed the High Court's power to quash criminal proceedings. It cited a thread of precedents including State of Haryana v. Bhajan Lal, Indian Oil Corporation v. NEPC India Ltd and State of Karnataka v. L. Muniswamy wherein it was held that a complaint can be quashed where there is a clear abuse of the process of the Court.

Taking the above observations into record, the Court set aside the impugned judgment of the High Court and quashed the criminal proceedings against the appellant.

Case name: NARESH ANEJA @ NARESH KUMAR ANEJA v. STATE OF UTTAR PRADESH & ANR., Special Leave Petition (Crl.) No. 1093 of 2021

Citation : 2025 LiveLaw (SC) 17

Click here to read the judgment