
Raipur: In a significant judgment, the Chhattisgarh High Court has held that telling someone “I love you” does not amount to sexual harassment. “It cannot be termed as sexual harassment unless it is established that the accused had sexual intent,” Justice Sanjay S. Agrawal of the High Court observed while upholding a trial court’s verdict. The complaint was originally lodged by a minor from the SC/ST community.
The High Court cited a verdict by the Supreme Court that a touch or physical contact without sexual intent cannot be termed as sexual offence.
The alleged victim said the accused had told her “I love you” only once. There was no evidence to establish that the accused had indulged in any kind of sexual harassment of the victim or had stalked her after that, the court observed. The chargesheet filed in the case had failed to establish that the accused had committed the offence with sexual intent or with an intention of racial discrimination, the court said.
The court further said that no evidence or document has been provided by the prosecution to establish that the alleged victim is a minor.
The case relates to a complaint lodged by a 15-year-old Dalit girl in a police station in Kurud in Dhamtari district in Chhattisgarh on October 14, 2019. The police had lodged an FIR against the accused for stalking, offence against a woman’s modesty of the IPC, Pocso Act and the SC, ST (Prevention of Atrocities Act), based on the complaint.
The trial of the case was held by a special court in Dhamtari. The special court had acquitted the accused of all charges on May 27, 2022. The state government had later moved the High Court challenging the verdict.