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Synopsis

A Delhi Court has ordered framing of charges against Chirag Patnaik, who was part of the social media team of the Congress, for “prima facie” outraging the modesty of a woman.

Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Rajinder Singh of the Patiala House Court, said that any annoyance caused to a woman due to unwelcome advances of a man cannot be termed "slight harm".

The judge passed the directions on August 23 while upholding an order of a magisterial court, which had in April last year held that charges for the offence punishable under section 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) and 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) of IPC were made out.

The court said that it did not find any reason warranting interference in the impugned order.

Advocate Ashish Dixit appeared for the complainant and argued that the accused was holding a position of authority. "Section 509 IPC is made out, even if, some person gazes at the victim/complainant", he submitted. 

The court said that in the complaint, there were specific allegations that the revisionist/accused tapped upon the shoulders and hands of the complainant without any specific reason.

“In view of the other allegations as mentioned in the complaint, at this stage there is no reason to believe that the revisionist/accused tapped upon the shoulders and hands of the complainant in an innocuous manner or out of some legally justifiable compulsion/reason”, it said.

The court further said that the act of tapping upon the shoulders and hands of the complainant by the revisionist/accused amounted to use of criminal force since it resulted in annoyance to the complainant.

“Section 509 of the IPC, uses the word “gesture”. Prima facie, gazing at the body contours of a female so as to make her uncomfortable would be an insult to her modesty. In the complaint, there are specific allegations that the revisionist used to gaze at the body contours of the complainant”, the judge observed.

Accepting the arguments, the court held, “In my considered opinion any annoyance caused to a female (complainant/victim) due to the unwelcome advances of a male, cannot be called a “slight harm”, for which a female of ordinary sense and tamper should not complain”.

Patnaik was arrested by the police in July 2018.

According to the complaint, it was stated that she was working as Social Media Manager, in the social media cell of a National Level Political Parties. Divya Spandana is the Chairperson of the Cell. Patnaik on many occasions had allegedly made the complaint uncomfortable at their office with his frequent violation of her personal space and “immoral behaviour”.

“Between April 4, 2018 to May 23, 2018, on many occasions, upon the pretext of checking the tweets, the accused violated the personal space of the complainant and came too close to her. The accused used to ‘encircle’ the complaint from behind”, the complaint stated.

“The accused used to exhale into the breathing space of the complaint. The accused tapped on the shoulders and hands of the complainant without any reason. The accused used to gaze at the body contours of the complainant”, the complaint added.

Case Title: Chirag Patnaik v. State (NCT of Delhi)