"Kaun Se Papa?": Man Convicted For Asking Woman About Child's Father

A Delhi court has held that the remark "Kaun se wale papa?" made by a man to a woman was not an innocuous question but a sexually-derogatory insinuation about her fidelity and the paternity of her child, and convicted him for insulting her modesty.

Judicial Magistrate Moksha Bains said the remark, made in response to the woman telling her three-year-old daughter "dekho papa aa gaye", implied that there could be more than one man who could be described as the child's father.

The court said the meaning of the words emanated not merely from their literal content but from the specific circumstances in which they were spoken.

"Such an imputation goes beyond mere discourtesy or a casual taunt and is capable of affronting the dignity and sense of decency of a woman," the court said.

It convicted Girdhari Lal under IPC section 509, which deals with words, gestures or acts intended to insult the modesty of a woman. The convict is yet to be sentenced.

According to the prosecution, 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."

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

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

The judge said the admission, considered along with the complainant's testimony, provided additional assurance regarding the utterance.

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

"No surrounding circumstance has been brought on record from which the remark could reasonably acquire an innocent meaning," the court said.

It also rejected the absence of an independent public witness as a ground to doubt the prosecution case, noting that the complainant was a direct witness and her testimony regarding the remark remained unshaken.

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.

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