Mumbai, May 5 A sessions court here on Tuesday acquitted a municipal union leader affiliated to the Shiv Sena in a 2015 case of allegedly insulting a woman hospital staffer's modesty, overturning a magistrate's verdict that had found him guilty.
Acquitting Sunil Chitnis, the accused, Additional Sessions Judge S S Adkar held that the prosecution failed to prove the case beyond reasonable doubt.
The incident dated back to July 3, 2015.
The complainant worked as a matron at a civic-run hospital in Mumbai.
As per the prosecution, the medical superintendent had called a meeting to address complaints received against her.
An argument broke out at the meeting when Chitnis questioned the woman's job performance. She claimed that afterwards, Chitnis approached her in a hospital passage and uttered a highly offensive and sexually explicit remark.
In May 2022, a magistrate's court convicted Chitnis under section 509 of the Indian Penal Code (acts, gestures, words, or objects intended to insult the modesty of a woman). He then filed an appeal.
The sessions judge held in his ruling that "it is clear that the prosecution has failed to prove that the accused has committed the offence with which he is charged".
"From the evidence on the record, the possibility of false implication of the accused cannot be ruled out," the court said.
