Saying 'I love you' not always sexual: HC

Mumbai

The Bombay High Court’s Nagpur bench has ruled that saying I love you alone does not imply sexual intent. The court made this observation while acquitting a 35-year-old man who was convicted in 2017 for allegedly molesting a 17-year-old girl in Nagpur in 2015.

According to the girl’s complaint, the man had stopped her on her way home from school, held her hand, asked her name, and said I love you. A sessions court had convicted him under sections of the Indian Penal Code and POCSO Act, sentencing him to three years in jail.

However, Justice Urmila Joshi-Phalke, in her recent order, noted that there was no clear evidence showing that the accused had sexual intent. She clarified that under the law, acts of molestation or harassment must include indecent gestures, forceful touching, or attempts to insult a woman’s modesty with clear sexual intent.

The court stated that merely expressing love, without any inappropriate physical behavior or indecent remarks, does not fulfill the legal definition of sexual misconduct. Words like ‘I love you’ cannot, by themselves, be seen as an act with sexual purpose unless accompanied by further actions indicating such intent, the judge explained.

The High Court thus concluded that the accused’s actions did not amount to molestation and set aside his conviction.