Insufficient evidence of gestures to constitute an offence under IPC Section 509.

ORDER

Dated this the 21^st day of January, 2026 The petitoner is the sole accused in C.C No. 1196 of 2020 on the file of the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court-II, Ernakulam, arising out of Crime No. 233 of 2020 of the Central Police Station. He filed this petition under Section 428 of the Cr.P.C praying for quashing all further proceedings against him. The offence alleged against the petitoner is under Section 509 of the IPC

2. The prosecution case is that on 07.01.2020 at about

11.30 a.m., when the defacto complainant went to the DEO office for verification of her K-TET certificate, the accused allegedly shown obscene gestures at her and thereby he is alleged to have insulted her modesty.

3. According to the learned counsel for the petitioner, the allegations levelled against the petitioner do not constitute the offence under Section 509 of the IPC . Therefore, he prayed for quashing all further proceedings against him.

4. The petition was strongly opposed by the learned counsel for the 2^nd respondent/defacto complainant as well as by the learned Public Prosecutor.

5. On a perusal of the FI statement, it is revealed that the only incriminating allegation against the petitoner is that he had shown some gestures when she asked about the Superintendent of the DEO office. Since the nature of the gesture allegedly shown by the petitioner was not disclosed in the FI statement, it cannot be ascertained as to whether the gesture shown by him is sufficient enough to outrage her modesty. In other words, the allegations levelled against the petitioner is not sufficient to constitute the offence under Section 509 of the IPC and as such further proceedings against the petitioner will only be an abuse of the process of the Court.

In the result, this Crl.M.C is allowed and all further proceedings against the petitioner in C.C No. 1196 of 2020 on the file of the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court-II, Ernakulam, is quashed.

Sd/-