Plant 50 Trees: Uttarakhand HC’s Condition to Quash Case against Man for Sexual Harassing Girl on FB

The Uttarakhand High Court recently directed a man to plant 50 trees as condition while allowing his application to quash a sexual harassment case against him.

A bench of Justice Sharad Kumar Sharma allowed the application filed by the man under Section 482 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) on the grounds that the victim, on account of the accused’s apology, had expressed her intention to not prosecute him any further.

As the offences alleged against the accused under Section 354A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Sections 67(a) and 67 of the Information Technology (Amendment) Act, 2008, were not compoundable, the court made the quashing of the case subject to the condition of plantation of 50 trees.

The case against the accused was registered on the complaint of a girl whose family was known to the accused. The girl had alleged that after she accepted the accused’s friend request on Facebook, he started misusing it and sent her indecent photographs and videos.

The investigation officer found the allegations against the accused prima facie true and filed a charge sheet. The magistrate court also issued summons to the accused. However, he moved the high court seeking direction to quash the whole criminal proceedings against him.

Along with his application, the accused attached an independent affidavit of the girl which stated that she had accepted the accused’s apology and as the accused was known to her family, she did not intend to prosecute him any further.

The court said that though in view of the facts of the case, the compounding application could be considered, but the composition should carry a lesson for the accused that in the future he would not engage himself in such type of offences and he should reckon how to acknowledge the sanctity of a friendly relationship.

The court directed the accused to plant 50 trees in an area as identified by the Horticulture Department of his District or Taluka to which he belongs, at his own cost.

The court ordered that it is only upon the submission of the certificate of the planting of the 50 trees that the proceedings against the accused would be dropped.