The Delhi High Court has ordered a man accused of assaulting a woman to do community service for a month to “atone for his sins”, PTI reported on Saturday. The court observed that the woman did not want to pursue her complaint and quashed the first information report filed against the man.
The order was passed by a single-judge bench of Justice Subramonium Prasad on March 26, according to Live Law. “The petitioner is directed to do one-month community service at the de-addiction centre run by the Society for Promotion of Youth and Masses Centre in Darya Ganj from April 1 to April 30,” the judge said in the order. He also ordered the man to pay Rs 1 lakh in total to three different welfare organisations.
The woman had filed a complaint against the man in July last year. The complainant said that the accused approached her when she was at a movie complex. The woman added that she rebuked him and asked him to go away, but he returned after a few minutes.
After this, the woman alleged that the man twisted her hand when she tried to walk away. She added the man hit her on her face and her spectacles fell down. She retaliated by hitting him with her bag.
The man claimed in his petition that he and the complainant had settled the matter and sought that the FIR filed against him be quashed.
The Delhi High Court, while hearing the case, noted that the man had acted in a “high-handed manner”, according to PTI. The court warned him against repeating such behaviour in the future.
The judge warned the man that he may recall the order to quash the FIR against him if he misbehaves or is absent during his community service period.
“It is the victim who is the ultimate sufferer,” the judge added. “She has been harassed by the petitioner and she is being further harassed in the proceedings initiated against the petitioner.”
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