"Masturbating in public infers sexual intent": Mumbai court convicts 60-year-old

Mumbai: A Special court here in Mumbai convicted a 60-year-old man for masturbating in public.

The court sent him to prison for a year as it held that masturbating in the presence of another person is sufficient to infer sexual intent of an accused.

While passing the order in a child sexual abuse case special judge for Protection of Children Against Sexual Offences (POCSO) cases, Priya Bankar, observe that such type of incidents "cause terror in the minds of people and leaves scar with the victim for a long time”.

The order was passed last week but the copy of the order was made available recently.

According to the prosecution, the four-year-old victim went to a tailoring shop that the accused ran near his house. The boy saw the accused masturbating.

The accused also flashed the victim, as per the complaint registered under the POCSO Act.

The defence lawyer contended that he had not called the boy to the shop, nor did he go near the boy.

The court in its judgement said that it was true that the boy saw the man’s act accidentally. But the accused’s shop was small and any passer-by could have seen his act, hence it cannot be said that he was masturbating in private, the court said.

When the boy saw the man’s act, he did not hide it but tried to give him some explanation, the court said.

“There is a very adverse impact of the incident on the victim, on his family members and even on society. They are under the impression that the house and nearby vicinity is not safe for children and it is going to cause an alarming situation in society,” the judge said. (UNI)