Sessions Court Upholds Man’s Conviction, Calls Messages Obscene
A sessions court has ruled that sending messages such as “you are slim, look very smart and fair, I like you” to an unknown woman at night constitutes obscenity.
Additional Sessions Judge (Dindoshi) D.G. Dhoble made these observations while upholding the conviction of a man for sending obscene messages on WhatsApp to a former corporator. The court emphasized that obscenity should be assessed from the perspective of an “average person applying contemporary community standards,” as noted in the February 18 order.
The court noted that pictures and messages were sent to the complainant between 11 pm and 12.30 am with content like “you are slim”, “you are looking very smart”, “you are fair”, “my age is 40 years”, “are you married or not?” and “I like you”.
The court stated that no married woman or her husband, especially those who are “reputed and (former) corporators,” would tolerate such WhatsApp messages and obscene photos, particularly when the sender and the complainant are strangers.
“Nothing has been brought on record by the accused that there was any relationship be-tween them,” it said.
The judge ruled that the messages and actions amounted to an insult to the modesty of a woman. The accused was initially convicted by a magistrate court in 2022 and sentenced to three months of imprisonment. He later challenged the verdict in the sessions court.
Among his arguments, the accused claimed he was falsely implicated due to political rivalry. However, the court dismissed this claim, stating there was no supporting evidence. “Furthermore, no woman would stake her dignity by falsely implicating an accused,” the court observed. It concluded that the prosecution had successfully proven that the accused sent obscene WhatsApp messages and images to the woman.
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