Mumbai bizman gets 1-year RI for outraging modesty of bank employee during address verification visit | Mumbai News

MUMBAI: In a case that serves as a stark reminder of the potential dangers faced by women in the workplace, particularly when their duties require them to interact with clients in unsupervised settings, a magistrate’s court recently convicted and sentenced a 54-year-old Malad businessman to one year of rigorous imprisonment (RI) for outraging the modesty of a female bank employee who had to visit his home. The woman, a deputy manager, visited the accused, Narendra Sagvekar’s residence for address verification as part of the bank’s account opening protocol.“In this case, I came to the conclusion that when the informant was on her duty and went to the house of the accused for his address verification, the accused was at home alone and applied force on her and outraged her modesty. The informant is a bank employee. At the time of the incident, the informant was 27 years old. Admittedly, it is an offence of moral turpitude. The accused committed an offence of moral turpitude, therefore, he is not entitled to get the benefit of probation,” Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate BN Chikne said while refusing to let off the accused on a bond of good behaviour. The accused was also fined Rs 1,000. He was out on bail.The magistrate said that though there were loopholes in the investigations, the sole testimony of the woman was credible and unshattered, despite intensive cross-examination. The delay in lodging the report was found to be adequately explained. “Getting panicked after such an incident is not an abnormal thing. Such incidents can cause a great deal of disruption in her life. Therefore, an Indian lady thinks 100 times before exposing herself before society. In this case, the delay has been properly explained by the informant,” the magistrate said. The magistrate also acknowledged that incidents of this nature, occurring within the confines of a private space, often lack eyewitnesses.The magistrate refuted the accused’s defence regarding the lodging of a false complaint only because the accused did not accept the savings plans as suggested by the woman. “It is (also) difficult to believe that only because the accused did not reply to the WhatsApp message of the informant ‘Hi’, the informant lodged the false report against the accused. There is no motive at all for the informant to lodge a false complaint against the accused,” the magistrate said.The incident occurred on Nov 27, 2020. Sagvekar visited the branch on Nov 26, 2020, to open a bank account. He provided his PAN card and Aadhaar card but failed to produce a photograph. As per bank rules, address verification at the customer’s residence was required. On Nov 27, 2020, at approximately 12.30 pm, the woman arrived at the accused’s residence. The accused was alone. After the procedures when she was about to leave, the accused “suddenly used criminal force on the informant with an intent to outrage her modesty by kissing her on her neck, cheek and holding her tightly, he was touching her whole body”. The woman pushed him away and managed to escape. She returned to her bank branch and reported the ordeal to the bank manager, operations manager, and a colleague. She subsequently lodged a report with the Malad Police Station.The accused was arrested on De 17, 2020, and released on bail two days later. During the trial, the prosecution examined four witnesses, including the woman and other bank employees.