MADURAI: Hugging and kissing between two persons in love is not sexual harassment, rather it is quite natural, observed Madras high court recently quashing a trial court proceedings against a 20-year-old man in Tamil Nadu’s Tuticorin.
Srivaikuntam All Women Police had charged the man with sexually harassing a 19-year-old woman. In 2023, the man filed a court petition seeking to quash the FIR registered against him.
As per the case, the man and woman had been in love for three years. In Nov 2022, he took the woman to a lonely place where they talked from 9pm to 12am. Suddenly, he hugged the woman and kissed her. The woman returned home and informed her parents about the relationship. She later asked the man to marry her. But the man refused and started avoiding her. Following this, the woman made a police complaint, based on which a case was registered against him for offence of sexual harassment.
Justice N Anand Venkatesh observed, “To constitute an offence under section 354-A(1)(i) of IPC, a man must commit physical contact and make advances involving unwelcome and explicit sexual overtures. Even if the allegations are taken as it is, it is quite natural for two people in the teenage, who are having a love affair, to hug or kiss each other. By no stretch, this can constitute an offence under section 354-A(1)(i) of IPC.”
No offence has been made out against the petitioner even if the allegations made in the FIR are taken as it is, therefore, criminal proceedings against the petitioner will result in abuse of law, the judge observed.
