Delhi HC overturns acquittal in sexual harassment case, criticises questions on woman's clothing

The Delhi High Court has overturned the acquittal of a man in a 2013 sexual harassment case, while strongly criticising questions about the complainant's clothing and warning against using cross-examination to shame or humiliate witnesses.

Justice Chandrasekharan Sudha, hearing a state appeal on August 10, said the suggestion that a woman wearing jeans could "corrupt young boys" reflected a "deeply troubling and unacceptable mindset".

The court said a woman's clothing was a matter of personal choice and could not be dictated by neighbours, society, an accused person or lawyers.

The case involved an incident on July 17, 2013, when the complainant was 17. She accused the man of stalking her, making sexually coloured remarks and touching her cheeks and hips.

The court said questions during cross-examination about whether she wore jeans and western clothes were irrelevant to her credibility and appeared intended to "insult, shame and annoy her". Justice Sudha said cross-examination was not a licence to humiliate a witness or attack her dignity.

The court also said judges must stop irrelevant, indecent or humiliating questions and ensure that proceedings do not become a "second site of trauma" for victims or witnesses.

On the allegations, the court found that the complainant's account of the accused touching her cheeks remained consistent despite some discrepancies. It held that the touching, along with the comments attributed to him, established an offence under Section 354A(1)(i) of the Indian Penal Code and convicted him.

However, the court did not sustain the charge under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act. It found that the prosecution had not satisfactorily established the complainant's age because of deficiencies in the birth registration records and related documentation.

The accused was directed to appear before the court on August 12 for a hearing on sentencing.