By way of background, the complainant had accused her senior officer of sexually harassing her in various ways, including by staring at her inappropriately and peeping into her room.
The Court, however, noted that there were no witnesses to support these allegations. Since the complaint was lodged after some delay, the ICC could not find any CCTV footage to lend credence to the allegations either, the Court added.
“Staring has various shades and does not always necessarily lead to sexual harassment as contemplated in the 2013 Act,” the judge further observed.
The Court was also not convinced by the allegation that the senior officer had used the phrase ‘hugging the coast’ in a sexual manner while speaking to the complainant. The single-judge noted that it is a form of usual terminology used in the coast guard circles.
“Such terminology being usual in Coast Guard circles and having been used by the petitioner first, a repeat of the same, even if any, without sexual overtones, as corroborated by witnesses, defeats the allegation itself,” the Court said.
Source: Barandbench
