IMPORTANT POINT
The court affirmed that voyeurism under IPC Section 354C requires a reasonable expectation of privacy, and the case's facts warranted a trial.

ORDER :

(M. Nagaprasanna, J.) :

The petitioner is before this Court calling in question the proceedings in C.C.No.82/2023 registered for the offences punishable under Sections 354C, 323, 506 of IPC and Section 66(E) of the Information Technology Act, 2000.

2. Heard the learned counsel Sri.Jayaraj D.S., appearing for the petitioner and the learned Additional State Public Prosecutor Sri.B.N.Jagadeesh, appearing for respondent No.1.

3. Facts in brief germane are as follows:

The second respondent is the complainant. A complaint comes to be registered against the petitioner accused alleging that the accused with intentions mala fide and motives ulterior placed a mobile phone inside the electric switch board situated in the hall of the premises belonging to the complainant and captured her private images and began to share the same with the in-laws of her son. This becomes the fulcrum of the complaint so registered on 09.01.2021. The complaint becomes a crime in Crime No.5/2021 for offences punishable under Sections 354C and 506 of IPC.

4. The police conduct investigation and filed a charge sheet in charge sheet No.70/2022 against the petitioner and the matter is now pending. Charge sheet is filed adding offences punishable under Section 323 of IPC and Section 66(E) of the Information Technology Act, 2000. The concerned court, on 21.01.2023 takes cognizance of the offences and registers C.C.No.82/2023 for the afore-quoted offences. Taking of cognizance and registration of criminal case is what has driven the petitioner to this Court in the subject petition.

5. The learned counsel appearing for the petitioner would contend that the complaint nowhere indicts the petitioner since the complaint alleges that the petitioner has kept the mobile phone in the electric switch board. It is his case that the mobile phone that is seized has no capacity to capture of images and the question of video recording does not arise at all. On this score alone, it is his submission that the proceedings are liable to be quashed. He would submit that none of the offences that are alleged would get attracted in the case at hand qua the facts. He would further submit that the crime registered in highly improbable and therefore, it should be quashed following the judgment of the Apex court in the case of State of Haryana vs Bajan Lal, 1992 Supp. (1) SCC 335.

6. Per contra, the learned Additional State Public Prosecutor would contend that all the contentions urged by the petitioner would become a matter of trial, as the offence punishable under Section 354(C) of IPC is clearly met in the case at hand. He would submit that it is for the petitioner to come out clean in the trial.

7. I have given my anxious consideration to the contentions of respective learned counsel and have perused the material on record.

8. The afore-narrated facts forms the content of the complaint. The complaint leads to registration of crime in Crime No.5/2021 initially for two offences one 354C and the other 506 of IPC.

9. Since the entire issue has now triggered on account of registration of complaint, I deem it appropriate to notice the complaint.

10. The police after investigation filed a charge sheet. Summary of the charge sheet reads as follows:

11. If the complaint and the summary of the charge sheet are read in tandem, it would prima facie lead to the ingredients of Section 354C of IPC. Section 354C of IPC reads as follows:

“354C. Voyeurism.—Any man who watches, or captures the image of a woman engaging in a private act in circumstances where she would usually have the expectation of not being observed either by the perpetrator or by any other person at the behest of the perpetrator or disseminates such image shall be punished on first conviction with imprisonment of either description for a term which shall not be less than one year, but which may extend to three years, and shall also be liable to fine, and be punished on a second or subsequent conviction, with imprisonment of either descripti