Dubai: A bus driver has been jailed for three months for groping a passenger although he pleaded innocent and said that he touched her unintentionally.
The 32-year-old Indian driver, C.B., was on a daily route driving a Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) bus when he accidentally touched the well-built Egyptian woman through the small opening in the plastic partition.
The Dubai Court of First Instance convicted C.B. of groping the Egyptian through the small opening. The incident happened in May 2013.
“I did not touch her,” said C.B. when he entered a not guilty plea.
Presiding judge Maher Salama Al Mahdi said the accused will be deported following the completion of his punishment.
The Egyptian said the incident happened when the driver asked her to stand near where he sits.
“The bus was crammed and there were no places to sit … he asked me to stay near him. I stood beside a plastic stand and suddenly I felt the defendant grope me. Then he touched me again and immediately removed his hand when I stared at him. Then I reported the matter to the police,” she said.
When questioned by prosecutors, the defendant deemed the incident “illogical and impossible to have happened intentionally”.
“She is the one who suddenly moved backwards and part of her got stuck in the small opening and hit my hand. It happened by mistake as she moved backwards and her body made contact with the plastic partition. It would have been impossible for me to have groped her as she described,” the suspect was cited as saying.
Records said C.B. provided prosecutors with a photo showing the partition, to prove it would have been impossible for him to have groped the woman.
Wednesday’s ruling remains subject to appeal within 15 days.
