Holding hand of girl to express love without any sexual intent is not sexual harassment: Bombay High Court

The Bombay High Court recently granted anticipatory bail to a rickshaw driver who had held the hand of a minor girl and expressed his "liking" for her [Dhanraj Babusingh Rathod vs State of Maharashtra]..Single-judge Justice Bharati Dangre said that the accused Dhanraj did not have any sexual intent to either outrage the modesty of the minor girl or to sexually harass her and thus no case was prima facie made out."From the accusation that are levelled, it can be seen that prima facie there is no case of any sexual harassment as it is not the case of the prosecution that the applicant held her hand with any sexual intent. Assuming for a moment that he has expressed his liking for her, since there is no sexual intent indicated from the statement of the victim girl. Prima-facie he deserves protection from arrest, as for no purpose his custody is needed," the bench said in the order passed on February 10..The case arose from a first information report (FIR) lodged by the father of the victim on November 1, 2022, alleging that the accused, Dhanraj Babusingh Rathod attempted to sexually harass his 17-year-old daughter and even outraged her modesty by holding her hand. As per the father, the applicant was known to the victim and her family as he lived in their vicinity. He used to drive an auto rickshaw and the victim had at times travelled in the same, to reach her school and tuition centre.However, she stopped travelling in his autorickshaw due to which on the day of the incident, the applicant stopped her and persuaded her to travel in his rickshaw but she refused to oblige. He then held the victim's hands, expressed his love for her and insisted that she sits in his auto so that he can drop her home.The girl, however, ran away from the spot and narrated the incident to the father after which FIR was lodged against Rathod..After going through the facts, Justice Dangre decided to protect the applicant and granted him anticipatory bail. "However, at the same time, he shall be warned that he shall not indulge in similar incident and if he does so, the protection conferred on him shall stand withdrawn," the bench clarified. With these observations, the judge granted him relief..Advocates RJ Shinde and ML Jadhav appeared for the applicant. Additional Public Prosecutor VA Thakre represented the State.Advocate Samir Das appeared for the victim..[Read Order]