Bombay HC: Can a woman molest another?

MUMBAI: The Bombay high court on Thursday questioned if a woman can be accused of outraging the modesty of another woman and sought the legal provisions for it.

A division bench of justices Naresh Patil and V L Achliya was hearing a petition by a family of six from Borivli, including 78-year-old matriarch Sarlaben Shah, seeking to quash an FIR filed against them by their neighbour Preeta Jain (55).

It started with a dispute over grilles that the Shahs fitted outside their ground-floor flat, which was opposed by their neighbours, including the Jain family. During an argument, Sarlaben's granddaughter was allegedly assaulted and manhandled. On October 23, 2009, she lodged a complaint of molestation against Jain's son and husband, and an FIR was registered.

A few months later, on February 27, 2010, the Jains also got an FIR registered against the Shahs and the charges included molestation.

In the court, Shah's advocate Pradeep Havnur questioned how two FIRs could be registered for the same episode. "It is absurd that a 78-year-old woman can be accused of molesting another woman," he said.

At that, the judges questioned if a woman could indeed molest another woman and what was the legal position. "This is a serious question," said Justice Patil. "Can a woman molest another woman? Even scientifically? Because there are the allegations. Go through the law. If a woman does commit such an act, can she be tried under the available law for molesting a woman?"

On going through the IPC's Section 354, the judges noted that while the section began with the word "whoever", it later went on to refer to the accused as "he" and the victim as "she". "Can a woman be accused of outraging the modesty of another woman under Section 354? Get the legal position," Justice Patil told Havnur.

The judges said even the amended Section 354A referred to an act committed by a man on a woman.

They later said housing societies must intervene and sort out such problems, instead of the parties filing cross-complaints and coming to the court.