Pushing a woman or pulling her hair during a dispute cannot be considered an outrage on her modesty, the  Bombay HC said (Image: Bombay High Court.com)

The Bombay High Court said on Monday that merely pulling a woman’s hair amid a quarrel cannot be taken as the act of molestation. It was stated by the division bench of Justices Revati-Mohite-Dere and Prithviraj Chavan that the pulling of hair is not ‘molestation’ as the term adheres to breaking a woman’s modesty.

Pushing a woman or pulling her hair during a dispute cannot be considered an outrage on her modesty, the  Bombay HC said while disapproving a petition seeking action on the case of assault or criminal force to a woman intended to outrage her modesty (Section 354).

The comment was based on a case in the disciples allegedly asking a petitioner (Nithin Upadhyay) to shoot a video stating that he had asked for 3.5 crore from another person to raise funds for organising a programme. When the petitioner refused to do a video the disciples allegedly assaulted the petitioner and ‘molested’ his wife pulling her hair and the disciple even beat his minor child. This was further taken to court as he complained about relevant Indian Penal Code sections.

Also, read| Bombay HC Orders Maharashtra Schools, Colleges To Step Up First Aid and Medical Services

However, the court rejected the petition saying that pulling his wife’s hair and pushing her couldn’t be specifically cited under outrage of modesty, instead the woman has to explain particularly on the matter about what the disciple has done to break her modesty in the case. Merely pulling a woman’s hair doesn’t mean outraging her modesty, the bench added.

Apart from that, the petitioner also claimed that the disciple behaved badly with his wife and used derogatory remarks. The court further responded that in most such cases survivors accuse their perpetrators to affirm the case and it is important to gather an explanation on how it was done in this case she doesn’t mention the exact words or the comments they told her, the bench noted.

The court further stated their satisfaction with the probe and the police investigation has filed the right sections under the IPC against the accused and the petitioner taking efforts to retard the case without any delay.

Also, read| RSS Defamation Case: Bombay High Court Grants Relief To Rahul Gandhi