A Delhi court has sentenced a man to four years rigorous jail term for molesting his colleague during a party at his house, saying the fact that he committed "indecent assault" on his guest, who was in a drunken state, made the offence "very serious".
Additional Sessions Judge Virender Bhat, while handing down the jail term to Delhi resident Sanjeev Kumar, said. "In my opinion, he deserves very stern sentence and shouldn't be let off lightly."
"The fact that the convict committed indecent assault upon his own guest and that too when she was lying in a drunken state in his house makes the offence committed by him very serious," the judge said.
The court also imposed a fine of Rs 25,000 on him and directed that the victim be appropriately compensated by the District Legal Services Authority (DLSA) (South-west).
The court, while sentencing Kumar, a UP native who was residing in Delhi, noted that he had misbehaved with his guest whom he had invited for a party to his residence to celebrate his promotion.
"The convict knew that the prosecutrix (victim) is lying in a drunken state and thus not in a position to offer any resistance. He had intentions to satisfy his sexual lust upon her..." it said, while relying on testimonies of four colleagues of the victim, who were also guests at the party.
The court, however, diluted the charge of attempt to rape (section 376 read with 511), for which Kumar was arrested, to molestation (section 354) under the IPC, saying there was no evidence to prove the same.
"There is no evidence on record to show that Kumar had moved towards the fulfilment of his desire to satiate his lust by having sexual intercourse with prosecutrix," it said.
The court also observed that the most important point of distinction between the offence to commit rape and to commit indecent assault is that there should be some action on the part of the accused which would show that he is just going to have sexual connection with the victim.
"Mere intention to commit the offence followed by preparation made for its commission but not followed by any further act cannot be said to constitute offence of attempt to commit the crime," it said.
Kumar was arrested two days after the complaint was lodged by the woman who alleged that on May 10, 2014, when she had gone to his residence with other colleagues to celebrate his promotion, he tried to rape her.
