Calcutta High Court: Section 354A IPC Charges Inapplicable to Women
Last Updated on July 31, 2024 by NewsDesk SLC
The Calcutta High Court recently ruled that charges of sexual harassment under Section 354A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) cannot be applied to women, as the provision explicitly refers to “a man.”
Justice Ajay Kumar Gupta reviewed the provision, which begins with, “[354A. Sexual harassment and punishment for sexual harassment–(1) A man committing any of the following acts–“. He concluded that “a female cannot be an accused under Section 354A of the IPC.” The language of the law specifies that only males can be prosecuted under this section.
The case involved a criminal revisional application filed by petitioners under Section 482 read with Section 401 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, seeking to quash the proceedings initiated against them. The case stemmed from a complaint lodged on September 15, 2018, by the de-facto complainant, who alleged that Samir Pandit and the petitioner attempted to torture her mother. The complainant also claimed that Pandit, who is the biological father of the petitioner, tried to molest her while she was changing clothes, with the petitioner instigating and torturing her mother.
The petitioner argued that there was no sufficient material in the charge sheet to proceed against her and that Section 354A could not apply to a female accused. The Court found no specific role attributed to the petitioner regarding the allegations made by the complainant and noted that the charges against her appeared to be made with ulterior motives for personal vengeance.
The State’s counsel argued that the petitioner was involved in furthering the common intention of committing the alleged offenses. Despite this, the Court observed that the allegations in the FIR were primarily against Samir Pandit, and not against the petitioner.
The Court held that all allegations against the petitioner were motivated by personal grudges and were an abuse of the legal process. Therefore, the proceedings against the petitioner were quashed, and it was affirmed that Section 354A IPC is designed to apply only to men, not women.
Written by — Athi Venkatesh AVD
