Mumbai: Senior executive gets 3 years’ jail for molesting teen actor on flight

MUMBAI: Over two years after a 17-year-old actor accused a Mumbai resident of molesting her on a flight, a special court on Wednesday convicted Vikas Sachdeva (41) for an offence of sexual assault under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act.
The court sentenced Sachdeva to three years’ imprisonment under Pocso and fined him Rs 25,000.He was also held guilty of sexual harassment under Section 354 of the IPC, for which the court sentenced him to a year in prison and fined him Rs 500. Both sentences are to run concurrently. Special trial court judge A D Deo found the prosecution had “clinchingly” proved its case “beyond reasonable doubt” and held that the minor’s “testimony that the accused had made an inappropriate touch with his foot to her shoulder and neck is unscathed,” despite her cross-examination by the defence.

Court: Essence of women’s modesty is her womanhood
The incident took place on a Delhi-Mumbai flight on December 9, 2017. Both were travelling business class.“The essence of a women’s modesty is her womanhood,” the judge said. The Pocso Act, a special law to prevent sexual crimes against children, under Section 7 makes any physical contact with sexual intent a sexual assault, the court said, and found enough evidence against the flyer to hold him guilty.
The judge, however, on aplea by Sachdeva’s advocates H S Anand and Adnan Shaikh, suspended his sentence and granted him bail. A senior executive with an entertainment business firm at the time of the incident, he was in custody for 11 days after his arrest on December 10, 2017 and has been on bail since. The trial court is empowered to grant or continue bail for a convict who has a sentence up to three years. “The culpable intention of the accused is the crux of the matter and her reaction is very relevant,” the judge said, adding the “testimony of the victim appears to be cogent, reliable and worthy of credence”.
(The victim's identity has not been revealed to protect her privacy as per Supreme court directives on cases related to sexual assault)