The Bombay High Court has held that saying “I love you” is merely an expression of feelings and does not, by itself, imply sexual intent. The ruling came as the Nagpur bench of the High Court acquitted a 35-year-old man who was convicted under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act for allegedly molesting a 17-year-old girl in 2015.
Justice Urmila Joshi-Phalke, who passed the judgment on Monday, observed that the expression “I love you” must be interpreted in context, and cannot alone establish the intent necessary to constitute sexual harassment or molestation under the law.
“Words expressed ‘I love you’ would not by itself amount to sexual intent as contemplated by the legislature,” the court stated. “There should be something more to suggest that the real intention behind saying ‘I love you’ was to drag the angle of sex.”
According to the prosecution, the accused had stopped the teenage girl while she was returning home from school in Nagpur, held her hand, asked her name, and told her “I love you.” The girl reportedly escaped and informed her father, who subsequently filed a police complaint. A sessions court in Nagpur convicted the man in 2017 and sentenced him to three years’ imprisonment under provisions of the Indian Penal Code and the POCSO Act.
The High Court, however, found no material on record to indicate that the accused intended to sexually harass or assault the girl. “Any sexual act includes inappropriate touching, forcible disrobing, indecent gestures or remarks made with an intent to insult the modesty of a woman,” the judgment noted, adding that such elements were absent in the present case.
The court emphasized that while the accused did approach the minor and expressed romantic interest, there was no evidence to show that the act was accompanied by a sexual motive or behavior that would amount to molestation.
