File photo used only for representation

MUMBAI: In a relief to a pilot, the Bombay high court has quashed a criminal case of sexual assault registered against him last September by a woman pilot.

Police had filed a chargesheet against Bimal Kumar Roy , a pilot with Air India Express , but a HC bench of Justices Ranjit More and Bharati Dangre ruled that he had neither the intention to molest the woman nor knowledge that his actions were likely to lead to it, both crucial ingredients that mark a crime under Section 354 of the Indian Penal Code.

The complainant alleged that she had decided to resign and had visited the AI office to return her identification card where she was asked to attend Roy's chamber. When she did, he allegedly questioned why had she entered his room. As she began recording his reaction, he pushed her, twisted her hand and touched her chest.

Roy contended that the complainant's FIR was an "outburst of her frustration and totally imaginary". When she entered his chamber, she "threatened him and started videographing the happenings, warning that she will place the video recording on social media ".

The HC held that the "complaint discloses that the petitioner was prohibiting the complainant from recording and this resulted in him pushing her and this may have caused the force applied on her chest, but there is no intention on his part to outrage her modesty."

