Can anyone be booked for looking at woman for 14 seconds?
Social media users are claiming that people can go to jail for staring at a woman for 14 seconds under section 345D IPC.
By Sunanda Naik Published on 2 Dec 2022 2:23 PM GMT
Social media users are claiming that people can go to jail for staring at a woman for 14 seconds under section 354D IPC
"You go to jail for staring at a woman for 14 seconds," reads the viral claim on an Instagram reel.
The second frame of the viral reel mentions "Section 354D IPC (Deals with stalking)" as the source of this information.
We also found some funny reactions on Twitter.
Women face sexual, eve teasing, and domestic harassment at some point in their life. It could be her workplace or home, rural or urban. To safeguard women from this harassment, The government of India has passed certain rules and laws for women's safety.
But, does section 354D deal with the 14 seconds theory?
FACT CHECK
NewsMeter first visited the government website of the Indian Penal Code. Scrolling down to IPC section 354D we found that the section refutes the claim. The section deals with 'STALKING' and its punishment. No amendment has been made recently.
We also found that it all started with a tweet by National Crime Investigation Bureau (NCIB), a Non-Governmental Organisation from its Head Office in Lucknow.
The tweet reads, 'Seeing any girl/woman for more than 14 seconds can lead to jail. Because knowingly or unknowingly or jokingly staring at a familiar or unfamiliar girl/woman for more than 14 seconds is a serious crime under sections 294 and 509 of the IPC. Such cases come under molestation.'
Again, according to the Indian Penal Code, Section 294 talks about offences related to obscene acts and singing/uttering obscene songs/words in public places, and section 509 deals with Word, gesture, or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman.
https://legislative.gov.in/
Moreover, we couldn't find any recent amendments.
Lastly, we found a media report on The Hindu and India Today explaining the story behind this 14-sec-stare-theory.
"A case can be filed against men who 'annoyingly' stare at women for more than 14 seconds", said Kerala Excise Commissioner Rishiraj Singh without mentioning any source to back his words.
The latter then became a laughing stock and got trolled on social media miserably.
Hence, IPC doesn't mention any such 14 sec-stare rule.
The claim is false.
