Supreme Court gives 7 years in jail to eve-teaser

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday strongly criticised eve-teasing and said male chauvinism has no room in India.

Slapping a seven-year sentence on an accused for eve-teasing, a three-judge bench of Justices Dipak Misra, A.M. Kanwilkar and M.M. Shanatanagouder said: “In a civilised society male chauvinism has no room. The Constitution confers the affirmative rights on women…”

Justice Misra said that when a right is conferred under the Constitution, it has to be understood that a man should not put his ego or masculinity on a pedestal and abandon the concept of civility.

The court said a woman has her own space as a man has. She enjoys as much equality under Article 14 of the Constitution as a man does, it said.

The right to live with dignity as guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution cannot be violated by indulging in obnoxious act of eve-teasing, the court said.

The apex court wondered why women in this country cannot be allowed to live in peace, and with dignity and freedom.

She has an individual choice which has been legally recognised, and it has to be socially respected, the court said.

“We are at pains to state that in a civilised society eve-teasing is causing harassment to women in educational institutions, public places, parks, railways stations and other public places which only go to show that requisite sense of respect for women has not been socially cultivated,” the court said.

The convict Pawan Kumar’s constant eve-teasing of a girl had led her to commit suicide in Chandigarh.

A sessions court had acquitted him of the charge of abetting the suicide. Later, it was reversed by the high court which held him guilty of abetment to suicide under Section 306 of the Indian Penal Code and now upheld by the SC.