A sessions court in Mumbai has ruled that sending inappropriate messages such as "you are slim, look very smart and fair, I like you" to an unknown woman at night constitutes obscenity.

This ruling came while upholding the conviction of a man who had sent such messages on WhatsApp to a former corporator. The court emphasized that obscenity should be judged from the viewpoint of an "average person applying contemporary community standards."

The court observed that the messages were sent between 11 pm and 12:30 am, including comments like "you are slim," "you are looking very smart," "you are fair," and questions like "are you married?"

The judge noted that no reputable married woman or her husband, particularly those with public standing as former corporators, would tolerate such messages, especially when the sender and the complainant had no prior relationship.

The accused had initially claimed political rivalry was the reason behind the case, but the court dismissed this as unsupported by evidence. The judge also rejected the claim that the woman had falsely implicated the man, stating that no woman would risk her dignity for a false accusation.

The prosecution successfully proved the charges, and the court upheld the original conviction and three-month sentence handed down by the magistrate.