Man jailed for calling woman ‘disgusting’

A 31-year-old man was sentenced to one year in jail for verbally abusing a woman in September 2014.

The woman told the court that the accused, Rohan Rane, in an argument, called her a “bl***y high class person”, “disgusting” and a “nuisance”. Around 9.45am, the woman, who is a flight attendant, was waiting at Lamington Road in south Mumbai, for her pickup to arrive. Another car in the same lane was taking a reverse. In her testimony to the Girgaon court, she said, “The lane was empty when the vehicle was taking a reverse. At the same time, my pickup arrived. I asked

the driver of the other car as to why he was taking so long to reverse his car?”

As she was rushing the driver to take a reverse, Rane walked up to her and asked her what her

problem was. She then asked Rane to either be polite or not talk to her. However, Rane did not listen to her and called her a “bl***y high class person”, the prosecution submitted. When she asked Rane to not speak to her, he said, “You and your disgusting family are a nuisance to the entire building and the lane”. As she was late, she did not argue further.

However, in November, while she was accompanied by her sister and parents, she bumped into Rane and another man, Digambar Joshi. According to prosecution, she asked Rane if he was the same person she had a verbal spat with, which led to an argument. The woman’s father then filed a complaint with the DB Marg police after which Rane submitted a written apology to the police. Rane was convicted for insulting the woman’s modesty and was ordered to pay a fine of ₹5,000.

Joshi was acquitted.

MUMBAI: