Mumbai Man Gets Jail Term For Uttering 'I love you' To Minor Girl

A special POCSO court in Mumbai sentenced 19-year-old to two years’ rigorous imprisonment (RI) for molesting a minor by holding her hand and saying “I love you.”

Judge Ashwini Lokhande found the man guilty of molestation under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) but exonerated him of charges under the more rigorous Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. The accused was also fined Rs. 2000.

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The incident happened in September 2019, when the victim, then 14-year-old went out to buy tea powder. When she returned from the shop and climbed to the first floor of her building, the accused, who resided in another wing of the housing complex, caught hold of her hand and pulled her towards him and said, “I love you” and “Mai tujhse bohot pyaar karta hoon (I love you a lot),” the Times of India reports. She managed to rescue herself, went to her house crying, and narrated to her mother what had occurred. When the mother went to confront the accused, he threatened her. The next day, her mother lodged a police complaint.

Meanwhile, the accused’s claim that he was in a relationship with the girl was denied by the latter and her mother and the court said that if the girl had an affair with the accused, she would have not narrated the incident to her mother.

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“It is established that the accused applied criminal force to the victim by holding her hand while she was proceeding to bring tea dust. The words uttered by the accused certainly outraged the modesty of the victim who was 14 years old at the time of the incident,” PTI quotes as the judge said in the order.