Mumbai: In a trial that lasted just two months, a magistrate’s court sentenced a 30-year-old labourer to one year of rigorous imprisonment for grabbing and hugging a 35-year-old female cabin crew who was jogging near her home in Aarey Colony in March.Naresh Kol even tried to drag her to a forested area, but her screams ensured that passersby caught him. Sentencing Kol, the magistrate noted that by his “indecent and indecorous act”, he threatened the safety and dignity of women, reports Rebecca Samervel.“This lascivious, prurient and lustful misbehaviour should be nipped in the bud by not showing leniency,” magistrate Vijay F Chougule said. Refusing to accept the defence that Kol had accidentally brushed the woman after he tried to save himself from a speeding car, the magistrate said that his attempt to drag the victim to a forested area contradicted his claim of a simple accident and indicated “malice and ill intention towards femininity”.The magnate said that the accused committed the act with intention and knowledge that he would outrage or was likely to outrage the victim’s modesty. “On the basis of specific evidence of the informant and (eyewitnesses) and identification given by them before the court about the accused, it has been sufficiently established on the record that it was the accused who committed the above abhorrent and detestable act,” the magistrate said.He noted that there was no enmity between the accused and the eyewitnesses and that the woman’s evidence was credible. “The informant being a lady will not fetch unnecessary blot on her character and reputation by making false allegations. The allegation of outraging of modesty itself is a blot and imputation on the morality and character of women. No woman would accept the imputation on her morality or reputation by making a false allegation, that too against a stranger,” the magistrate said.The case was registered by the Aarey police station on May 29. The incident occurred on March 21, around 8 pm. A motorcyclist, later identified as witness Sahil Darekar, and his companions came to her aid, rescued her and held the accused. With the help of the public, the victim contacted cops and went to the police station to file a report. Kol was arrested and booked under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) for assault and use of criminal force with the intention to outrage a woman’s modesty.During the trial, the prosecution presented four witnesses to prove Kol’s guilt. The key witnesses were the woman, eyewitness and motorcyclist Darekar and the investigating officer, Chetan Ganage. The victim and the eyewitness both identified Kol via video conferencing.
