Charges Maintainable Under Section 354C Of The IPC Even For Peeping Into Doorless Bathroom: Delhi High Court

The High Court Bench of Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma was hearing an appeal filed by a convict charged under Section 354C of the IPC and Section 12 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012 where the trial court had put him under one year of rigorous imprisonment with a fine of Rs.20,000.

The concerned convict was charged after allegations made by the complainant through a complaint made in 2014 pertaining to invading her privacy by peeping while she used to take bath in a doorless bathroom, passing of lewd comments, looking at her with sexual intent, and so on.

The counsel for the convict argued that the woman used to take shower outside her jhuggi which can be said to be a public space. However, Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma maintained that even a closed bathroom that does not have a door but curtains, cannot be considered to be a public space and the act of bathing cannot be equated with taking dip in the holy waters as mentioned by Advocate Ashish Dahiya, who represented the convict. However, since the prosecution could not prove that the complainant was under 18 years of age and the charges under the POCSO Act was dropped and the convictions under the IPC was upheld.