Court refuses to discharge man who touched youth’s hand at Churchgate station

A special court, under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO), on Monday, rejected an application of a man who sought to be discharged from a case of inappropriately touching the hand of a 17-year-old at Churchgate station in 2018, saying his act was ‘deliberate’. Special judge MA Baraliya said, in her order, that substantial evidence is the prosecutrix, who has experienced bad or inappropriate touch from the accused. The court also noted that, as per her police statement, the accused, who was at some distance from her, deliberately came close to her and then touched her hand. It said that, thus, it was ‘not an act that took place in the morning hours due to jostling, but was a deliberate act’. As per the complaint filed by the girl, she was walking on platform number 2 of the station at around 10.40 am, when the unknown man came close to her and moved his hand over her left hand. She yelled at him and he was nabbed by passersby when he tried to flee. At this point, the police arrived at the spot and took him in their custody.

The man Bacchuram Prajapati is out on bail. His advocate had argued before the court that it was not a touch with sexual intent and only a case of touching her hand. Further, she said that he is a TB patient and there are no eye-witnesses or evidence in the form of CCTV footage. The court stated that there is sufficient ground to proceed against him and that the application is devoid of any merit.