Obscene comments against women can cause more distress than physical harm: Karnataka High Court

The Karnataka High Court has ruled that obscene remarks made to a woman, whether by gesture, writing or verbal, amount to an insult to her modesty and may sometimes cause her greater distress than bodily harm.

Psychological damage

“While inflicting physical harm on a woman is an entirely different situation and punishable as a different offence, violating the victim’s privacy and personal dignity can cause her greater distress than inflicting physical harm as it causes severe mental harm and leaves a scar on her soul,” the court said.

Justice M Nagaprasanna made these observations while refusing to dismiss a complaint filed against a man for writing a woman’s mobile number and the word “call girl” next to it on the wall of a men’s public toilet at Kempe Gowda Bus Terminus in Bengaluru’s Majestic area, which led to the victim receiving countless calls from men.

The court said that in today’s digital age, “physical harm need not be caused but merely disparaging remarks, photographs or videos circulated on social media can violate a woman’s modesty.”

“It goes without saying that sexual violence against women is not only an inhuman act but also a violation of her right to privacy and cannot be construed as legal by any stretch of imagination. It subjects women to a traumatic experience and, therefore, such cases coming before the court need to be dealt with strictly,” Justice Nagaprasanna said.

Case History

The victim was a junior health assistant at a public health centre in Chitradurga district, and between January and February 2020, she suddenly started receiving a flood of phone calls from men. When she checked with one of the callers, she found that her mobile number had been written on the outer wall of a public toilet.

She then went to Bangalore with one of her female colleagues and found her mobile number written on the wall of the toilet, after which she returned home and, suspecting that someone from her workplace had done it, lodged a complaint with the police.

Police investigation revealed that the accused, Allur Baksh P., 38, a resident of Chitradurga, had written the mobile number on the toilet wall after a female colleague asked him to “teach her a lesson” as he had a professional rivalry with the complainant.