Hold your tongue! 'Chammakchallo' hurts a woman's modesty: Thane court
- Sentencing a case from 2009, a Thane court observed that the word causes irritation to women.
- The victim was verbally abused by the man when she was coming back home from a walk.
- "The accused had indeed committed an offence under Section 509 of IPC", said the court.
FollowTill now, 'Chammakchallo' was a popular Bollywood song, easily relatable to youngsters. However, not anymore. So long it is restricted to the silver screen, its fine. However, in real life, it can land you up in jail. At least, that is what this Thane court ruled.
Further explaining its stand, it said that the use of the word amounts to "insulting a woman's modesty". Observing a case from 2009, a Thane magistrate sentenced a city resident to simple imprisonment "till the court rises" for the offence and imposed a fine of Rs 1 on him. According to a woman's complaint, on January 9, 2009, while returning from a walk with her husband, she stumbled on a garbage bin that was kept intentionally on the stairs. That is when the accused called her a 'Chammakchallo'. Offended, the woman approached the police who refused to act on it. She then moved the court for justice.
8 years later, judicial magistrate R T Ingale backed her case and said, "the accused had indeed committed an offence under Section 509 of IPC (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman)."
The magistrate further said in his order, "It is a Hindi word. There is no word for it in English. Â The said word is to be understood in Indian society by its use. Generally, this word is used to insult a woman. It is not a word for appreciating....it causes irritation and anger to any woman."
