The pitfalls of one-sided love dawned on a man on Monday when the Supreme Court told him that it could reduce his five-year sentence to one year if he fell at the feet of the girl and sought her forgiveness for entering her bedroom 10 years ago and holding her hand.
A resident of Bhagyalaxminagar in Kaviguda area of Secunderabad was smitten by a girl who lived just two houses down the road. He followed her to her coaching classes. She informed her parents and they took local elders with them and warned the man not to follow the girl.
But blinded by love, the man continued to follow the girl and on January 30, 2005, he could no longer keep his emotions under control and entered her bedroom early in the morning while she was asleep. Finding him in the room, she rushed out. But he held her hand and asked whether she would marry him. In the process, she fell and hurt herself.
The girl filed a complaint with the police and accused the man of entering her bedroom and forcing her to marry him. The trial court convicted him for attempting to outrage the modesty of the girl and also trespass and sentenced him to five years in jail with a fine of Rs 1,000.
On appeal against the trial court order, the high court maintained the conviction but reduced the sentence from five years to two years. He appealed against it in the Supreme Court. On August 8, the SC suspended the sentence and granted him bail on furnishing a bond of Rs 20,000 with two sureties of like amount.
On Monday, a bench of Justices T S Thakur and V Gopala Gowda told the man's counsel ATM Ranga Ramanujam that there was no escaping the imprisonment given the evidence on record and the concurrent findings of the trial court and the HC.
The bench said, at best, it could reduce the sentence to one year jail term. However, it said the only way to escape being led back to prison was to "go and fall at the feet of the girl and seek her forgiveness".
"If she pardons you and you can convince her for a compromise, only then we can permit the sentence to be limited to the period already undergone by you," the bench said. It gave him time till October 6 to seek mercy from the girl.
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