Judgment

K.G. Balakrishnan, J.—The appellant in Criminal Appeal No. 1032 of 1998 was found guilty of the offence punishable under Sections 354 and 509 of the Indian Penal Code. He challenges his convic­tion and sentence in this appeal. Criminal Appeal No. 430 of 1999 has been preferred by the com­plainant in that case and she prays that the punishment imposed on the accused should be enhanced. Both the appeals are heard together and disposed of by this common judgment.

2. On 18.7.1988, a senior IAS officer, holding the post of Finan­cial Commissioner and Secretary to the Government of Punjab, invited some of the IAS officers and IPS officer working at Chandigarh, for a dinner at 8.30 P.M. at his residence in Sector 16 of Chandigarh. Apart from the IAS and IPS officers, there were a few advocates, including the Advo­cate General of the State of Punjab and also some journalists and press correspondents working with some leading newspapers. The guests assembled around 8.30 P.M. Ladies were sitting in a semi-circle slightly away from the male guests. As per the allegation in the complaint preferred by the husband of the prosecutrix, the ac­cused, who was then the Director General of Poli