Gramin Sewa driver held guilty of insulting woman passenger in Delhi

New Delhi: Driver of a Gramin Sewa vehicle, held guilty of making "vulgar remarks" at a woman passenger when she refused to accommodate another person on her seat, has been sentenced till the rising of the court.

"The words uttered by the accused describe her body in order to insult her when she did not accommodate one more passenger on her small seat. Making vulgar remarks about the hips of a woman and comparing them to the size of a seat in the vehicle in her presence amounts to insulting the modesty of the complainant," Metropolitan Magistrate Susheel Bala Dagar said.

The sentence till the rising of court was imposed on the driver Surender Solanki for committing the offence under section 509 (outraging modesty of a woman) of the IPC.

According to the police, the incident took place on August 23, 2013 near Rohini here when Solanki, who was driving the vehicle which already had 20 passengers, asked the woman to accommodate one more person on her seat.

The woman refused as her seat was small but the driver, while forcing her to make space, passed lewd comments at her in front of the co-passengers, it said.

The woman lodged a complaint after getting down at her destination following which the driver was arrested.

The court, while convicting him, relied on the statement of the complainant saying it has "remained blemish free and is found to be credit worthy."

It also rejected the contention of the accused that there were no independent witnesses, saying, "Non joining of public witnesses by the police does not absolve the guilt of the accused."