The incident took place on March 23, 2021, when Priyanka Gupta was walking through a street outside her house with her three-year-old daughter to drop the child with her father.

Girdhari Lal, who used to iron clothes in the locality, was sitting at a street corner when the woman tried to pacify her crying daughter by telling her, “Dekho papa aa gaye, do not cry.”

He immediately remarked, “Kaun se wale papa?” The woman ignored the comment and later, informed her father-in-law, who called the police.

The court noted that the convict himself admitted during his statement made under section 313 of the CrPC that he had uttered the words, though he had claimed that they were not spoken with any ill-intention.

The court further held that the intention behind the remark could be inferred from its nature and the circumstances in which it was made.

The court concluded that the prosecution had proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Girdhari Lal made the remark intending it to be heard by the woman and with the intention of insulting her modesty.

It accordingly convicted him under IPC section 509 and directed that he be heard separately on the quantum of sentence.