The Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court has observed that merely saying “I love you” is an expression of emotion and, in itself, does not constitute sexual intent as defined under law.

The court made this observation while acquitting a 35-year-old man who had been convicted for allegedly molesting a 17-year-old girl in 2015.

Justice Urmila Joshi-Phalke, who authored the judgment, noted that any act of sexual harassment must involve inappropriate physical contact, forcible disrobing, or indecent gestures or remarks made with the intent to insult a woman’s modesty. “Words expressed as ‘I love you’ would not by itself amount to sexual intent as contemplated by the legislature,” the court said.

According to the prosecution, the accused had approached the teenager while she was returning from school, held her hand, asked her name, and said “I love you.” The girl managed to leave and informed her father, following which an FIR was registered. In 2017, a Nagpur sessions court convicted the man under provisions of the Indian Penal Code and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, sentencing him to three years in prison.

However, the High Court found that the prosecution failed to establish any circumstances suggesting that the accused intended to establish sexual contact with the girl. “There should be something more to suggest that the real intention behind saying ‘I love you’ was to drag the angle of sex,” the court held.

Emphasizing that expressions of love alone do not amount to sexual harassment, the court ruled that the incident did not fall within the scope of molestation or sexual offences as defined under the POCSO Act or IPC. It, therefore, set aside the trial court’s conviction.

“If somebody says that he is in love with another person or expresses his feelings, that in itself would not amount to an intent showing some sort of sexual intention,” the court clarified in its order.