Nitin Saxena vs State and Another

Hima Kohli, J.—The present petition is filed by the petitioner u/s 482 of the Cr.PC, praying inter alia for quashing of FIR No. 302/2008 lodged by the respondent No. 2/complainant against the petitioner u/s 354 IPC, registered with Police Station: Aman Vihar, Delhi.

Counsel for the petitioner states that the incident of sexual harassment, which was complained of by respondent No. 2/complainant against the petitioner, took place in the year 2008, when she and the petitioner were both studying in an engineering institute. He submits that the petitioner is a young man, aged 23 years and after completing his education, is gainfully employed with a reputed private company and continuation of the present case against the petitioner shall ruin his career. He further states that the petitioner is genuinely repentant and has tendered an apology to the respondent No. 2/complainant for his misconduct and he assures the Court that he shall never indulge in such reprehensible behavior in future.

Counsel for the petitioner also draws the attention of this Court to the Compromise Deed dated 20.08.2010, executed between the parties to state that they have arrived at a settlement of their own free will and volition with the intervention of the respective parents of the parties and they have amicably settled all their inter se disputes. It is, therefore, requested that the present FIR be quashed. Respondent No. 2/complainant is present in Court and states that ever since the date she lodged the aforesaid complaint against the petitioner, he has not tried to approach her or misbehave with her. She further states that she is not under any pressure from any quarter and has voluntarily agreed not to press the FIR lodged by her against the petitioner.

Judicial notice can be taken of the fact that in the recent past, innumerable incidents of sexual harassment and eve teasing have been brought to light in educational institutions, and the University campus, where despite the fact that ragging has been banned, young men do not hesitate in misbehaving with their female classmates in the name of breaking the ice or getting acquainted with them. There have been occasions when such actions have resulted in warping the psyche of the students, who have been forced to the brink of committing suicide or have actually taken their life on account of humiliation and disillusionment. This is yet another example where sheer physical harassment caused to the respondent No. 2/complainant by the petitioner, who kept hounding her within the college campus, drove her to seek refuge with the police authorities. In fact, a perusal of the complaint reveals that regretfully, the college authorities adopted an indifferent approach and did little to ameliorate the situation, thus compelling the respondent No. 2/complainant to lodge a formal complaint.

The petitioner was not so young even in the year 2008 as to fail to realize the adverse consequences of his misconduct. He is the son of a government servant and belongs to an educated family and ought to have conducted himself with greater dignity, discipline and restrain. Instead, he crossed all bounds of decency.

However, having regard to the fact that the petitioner is a young man, has a long life ahead of him and his future career shall be jeopardized if the criminal proceedings are continued against him and keeping in view the fact that the respondent No. 2 has forgiven him and confirms that he has not misbehaved with her ever since the last incident which resulted in lodging of the FIR, the present FIR is quashed, subject to the following directions:

(i) The petitioner shall compensate the respondent No. 2/complainant by paying costs of Rs. 20,000/- to her within one week and hand over proof of receipt to the learned APP.

(ii) The petitioner shall further pay costs of Rs. 20,000/- to the NGO namely, "Nirmal Chhaya" within one week and hand over proof of receipt to the learned APP.

(iii) The petitioner shall do some community service with the NGO, "Child Relief & You" (CRY). He shall report to the Director/Manager of the NGO, within two weeks to undertake duties as assigned to him for one hour, once a week and continue to render service for a period of one year. The Probation Officer of the area shall ensure that the petitioner effectively discharges the duties assigned to him by the NGO. The Director/Manager of the NGO shall forward a bi-monthly report of the petitioner to the Probation Officer/SHO of the area. In case of any absenteeism/default on the part of the petitioner, the same shall be conveyed immediately by the NGO to the Probation Officer/SHO of the area, who shall in turn inform the learned APP for the State, for bringing the same to the notice of the Court and for seeking recall of the orders passed today.

The petition is disposed of.

A copy of this order be given DASTI to learned APP to communicate the same to the NGO and the Probation Officer of the area.