Indian court says calling an unknown woman “darling” is sexual harassment

An Indian court ruled that using the word “darling” in reference to an unknown woman would amount to sexual harassment and be punishable under Indian law.

Justice Jay Sengupta of the Calcutta High Court on Friday observed that the word “darling” has a sexual connotation and in Indian society a man is not allowed to use such expressions “joyfully” to address “unknown women”.

A single-judge bench of Justice Sengupta was hearing an appeal in which a man was accused – allegedly while drunk – of calling a policewoman “darling” nine years ago.

The incident occurred in October 2015 in the picturesque Andaman Islands, when a local police team deployed to maintain law and order arrested Janak Ram for creating a disturbance.

Ram reportedly asked a policewoman in Hindi: “Darling, have you come to impose a fine?”

The prosecution presented eleven witnesses who confirmed the woman’s testimony during the proceedings.

“To address an unknown lady, whether a police officer or not, in the street by a man, drunk or not, with the word ‘darling’ is obviously offensive and the word used is essentially a sexually tinged remark,” the judge found. India today.

The defence argued that the words used by Ram were meant as a joke and that the word ‘darling’ is generally used in Indian society without any sexual connotations. The accused also claimed that there was no evidence that he was drunk during the incident.

The court replied: “If this had been done in a sober state, the gravity of the offence would possibly be even greater.”

The court held that using the controversial word towards unknown women constitutes an offence under sections 354A (outraging the modesty of a woman) and 509 (word, gesture or act with intent to insult the modesty of a woman) of the Penal Code.

The court reduced Ram’s jail term to one month after finding that he had not “aggravated” the offence and had stopped after uttering those words.