E-Paper
Kurukshetra man gets 1-year jail for outraging modesty of ex-fiancee
In the case registered on August 12, 2021, the victim told police that she had got engaged to the man in July, 2020. After the engagement, his family started raising demands for dowry, due to which the marriage was called off. Following this, the man had started threatening her, stating that if she doesn’t marry him, he would upload her objectionable pictures on social media and kill her.
A local court awarded one-year jail to a Kurukshetra resident for outraging the modesty of his former fiancee, as he had threatened to upload her objectionable pictures online after their wedding was called off. The court also imposed a fine of ₹2,000 on the convict. He was, however, granted bail.
In the case registered on August 12, 2021, the victim told police that she had got engaged to the man in July, 2020. After the engagement, his family started raising demands for dowry, due to which the marriage was called off. Following this, the man had started threatening her, stating that if she doesn’t marry him, he would upload her objectionable pictures on social media and kill her.
She had further alleged that the man had created a fake Facebook account in her name and sent some obscene pictures to her cousin with an intent to tarnish her image. Further, he had also created a fake Instagram account, also in her name, to chat with strangers.
On her complaint, a case under Section 67-A of the IT Act and IPC Sections 506 (criminal intimidation) and 509 (sexual harassment by electronic mode) was registered at the women’s police station in Panchkula. The accused was formally arrested on August 17, 2021, and his phone seized.
The police, however, failed to produce any evidence to link the fake social media accounts with the accused or prove that it was created by him or that he had sent the obscene photographs to the victim’s cousin. Thus, he was acquitted under Section 506 of IPC and 67A of IT Act. He was, however, found guilty under Section 509 for harassing the victim.
The court, while pronouncing him guilty, observed, “The acts and conduct of the convict are highly deplorable. He was engaged to the complainant. The convict was in possession of intimate photographs of the complainant, threatened to publicise them and committed the offence of commission of acts intending to insult the modesty of a woman,” ruled the court of judicial magistrate, Aparna Bhardwaj.
