Thane, March 27 A court in Thane has sentenced a 36-year-old woman to one year in simple imprisonment for assaulting an official of the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL) following a dispute over a power bill.
In his judgment of March 20, a copy of which was made available on Friday, Additional Sessions Judge (Thane) R S Bhakare also imposed a fine of Rs 3,000 on the convict, Jyotsna Mohan Pawar.
The incident took place in January 2020 at the MSEDCL's Diva office, after Pawar came with a complaint about an "excess" electricity bill.
When assistant engineer Shashikant Udugade informed her that the meter concerning the bill was functioning correctly and requested payment of arrears, Pawar became enraged. She abused, pushed, and assaulted the official, the prosecution said.
Though Pawar claimed she was being falsely implicated to cover up manhandling by the official himself, the court dismissed these arguments due to a lack of evidence.
In the order, Judge Bhakare emphasised the necessity of protecting public servants to ensure administrative efficiency.
"For better efficiency of the public servants, they must have safety and security. Certainly, if the public servants are provided a free and fair environment, their efficiency to do the public work will enhance," the court said.
If the accused was not satisfied with the redressal given by the complainant, she should have filed a complaint with the higher authorities or she could have taken legal action, the court said.
The accused had a right to seek redressal, but she could not take the law into her own hands, said the court before handing Pawar a one-year jail term.