'Gudiya' texts get Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation officer jail

MUMBAI: Convicting and sentencing a 43-year-old BMC officer to 3-month imprisonment for addressing a 40-year-old woman corporator as "gudiya" (doll) in several texts sent late at night in 2016 along with pictures of "scantily clad" models from newspapers, a magistrate's court held that even though those were viral photos, it did not give him the right to send them to her. The court further said the concept of obscene changes from person to person.
"(In) the photographs sent to the informant's (woman) number, the model is in less clothes. In India, in many families, traditional clothing is practiced, therefore, for such type of families less clothing is obscene and, moreover, the photographs were sent when the informant does not know the accused... It is seen that the messages and photographs are sent with intention to insult the modesty of the informant," the court said. It further said no one has the right to send any messages disturbing one's privacy.
Refusing to let off the accused, Narsingh Gude, on a bond of good behaviour, the court said offences against women are on the rise. "Women are not safe inside the house as well as outside the house and punishment to one accused is a lesson to the society who is going to commit similar kind of offence. The offence is in respect of modesty of women, hence benefit of Probation of Offenders Act cannot be granted," the court said.
Under the Probation of Offenders Act, an accused can be released on a bond of good behaviour instead of serving a sentence.
The court also directed the accused to pay the woman Rs 3,000 as compensation for causing mental suffering.
The accused was found guilty of the offence under the Indian Penal Code relating to using word or gesture intended to insult the modesty of a woman. Additionally, the court convicted him for offences under the Information Technology Act for sending obscene pictures on WhatsApp that contained sexually explicit acts and which are lascivious or appeal to the prurient interest.
The court said the woman's deposition was trustworthy. The woman, her husband and police deposed during the trial.
The prosecution's case was on January 26, 2016, at 11.30pm, the woman found 20 to 25 messages on her WhatsApp from an unknown mobile number. On opening those messages, she found texts such as "Are you sleep, You are married or not, You are looking smart, Very fair you are, I like you, my age is 40 years and meet you tomorrow." Some obscene photographs were also sent. It was further alleged after the woman informed her husband, he called the number but it went unanswered. The prosecution said the woman then received messages like "Sorry.. call not accept at night, whatsapp chatting I like, come online." The couple went to the police.
The accused denied the allegations. In court, during her deposition, the woman denied the defence advocate's suggestion that since a quarrel took place between a BMC engineer and her, she lodged a false case against the accused. She also denied being a corporator, she pressured cops to lodge an FIR.