A Delhi court has ruled that showing a middle finger to a woman amounts to outraging her modesty. The ruling was made by a judge while hearing a case concerning an assault which took place in 2014.
Brother-in-Law showed middle finger
The accused, who has been sentenced to jail, had gestured at a woman with his middle finger and made obscene facial expressions. The complainant, in this case, had alleged that the accused passed lewd remarks aimed at her and even slapped her.
The matter was first brought to the attention of Delhi Police in May 2014 by a woman who claimed that her brother-in-law showed her his middle finger and assaulted her, according to a media news report.
Post Police Investigation
After an investigation, police booked the accused under Sections 509 and 323 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) which correspond to punishment awarded for word gesture or lewd remarks meant to insult a woman’s modesty.
Based on the investigation, the court framed charges against the man on October 8, 2015.
However, the accused consistently denied all of the allegations and claimed that the complainant had accused him of outraging her modesty owing to a property dispute.
After hearing the case, Metropolitan Magistrate Vasundhara Azad stated that the actions of the accused amounted to making utterances or gestures intended to outrage a woman’s modesty.
Punishment for showing middle finger
The accused is now looking at a maximum punishment of three years in prison along with a fine. However, the length of the jail term will be announced on Tuesday.
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