Women can be held guilty of outraging the modesty of a woman: Mumbai Court

In a rare instance, the Mazagon Mumbai Magistrate’s Court sentenced a 38-year-old woman to one year’s rigorous imprisonment, after finding her guilty of outraging the modesty of another woman.

Metropolitan magistrate Manoj Vasantrao Chavhan in its judgement said the woman had evidently used criminal force upon the victim and the same had been established by eye-witness accounts. The court further said the accused was aware that her acts would outrage the modesty of the victim.

By beating the informant and tearing her nightie, the accused has infringed the right of privacy of informant (victim). It has come in the evidence of all witnesses that when the incident had taken place, men from the same building were also standing there,” the court said

However, the court noted that the accused is a mother of three children and the youngest child is only 1.5 years old, hence she has been awarded the minimum punishment prescribed under the section.

With regard to Section 354 of the IPC, the judge observed that “a woman may assault or use criminal force to another woman with the same effect as a man”. A woman is not “incapable” of outraging the modesty of another woman simply because she is a woman.

The magistrate ruled that under section 354 of the IPC, a man as well as a woman could be convicted of such an offence. The Magistrate said, “Section 354 of the IPC, governs equality to all persons, whether male or female and it cannot be held that a woman can be exempted from any punishment under this section.”

The dispute was going on between the two for a long time. During the quarrel in the year 2020, the accused woman tore the clothes of her neighbor woman and asked her husband to rape her.