The Bombay high court has asked the state to consider making section 354 of the Indian Penal Code, which deals with assaults or use of criminal force on women with the intent to outrage her modesty, a non-bailable offence.
The high court was hearing a suo-moto petition based on a recent article highlighting the plight of women commuters on trains. “Why don’t you make the concerned sections non-bailable,” a division bench of Chief Justice Mohit Shah and Justice Ranjana Desai observed.
“It appears that since it is bailable, police take it lightly. If you make it non-bailable, the police will be required to arrest the culprits.”
The bench recommended that instead of waiting for the Centre to amend the concerned legal provision, Maharashtra should follow Andhra Pradesh and Orissa, where a molestation charge is non-bailable.
The judges also cited the example of Madhya Pradesh government, which has added a provision to IPC — Section 354A, and has increased the punishment from one year imprisonment to 10 years.
The court was hearing a petition highlighting the plight of a woman who was molested on a train. The Railway Protection Force personnel told her not to lodge a complaint if she was not raped or robbed.
