Mumbai man jailed for molesting minor actress in flight

Mumbai: The Mumbai Sessions Court on Wednesday found a 41-year-old Mumbai man guilty of molesting a former minor actress on board a flight and slapped a three-year jail sentence on him, officials said.

The incident occurred on a Delhi-Mumbai Air Vistara flight in December 2017, sparking off a national outrage, and the actress who was 17 then, later "dissociated" herself from Bollywood.

Special Judge A.D. Deo of the Dindoshi Sessions Court pronounced the convict, Vikas Sachdev, guilty under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO).

Soon after the incident, the minor actress had posted details of her trauma on social media after which Sachdev was arrested.

"So, I was in a flight travelling from Delhi to Mumbai today and right behind me one middle-aged man who made my two-hour journey miserable. I tried to record it on phone to understand it better because the cabin lights were dimmed, I failed to get it," she said in her social media post.

"The lights were dimmed, so it was even worse. It continued for another five to ten minutes and then I was sure of it. He kept nudging my shoulder and continued to move his foot up and down my back and neck,", she said in a video post after the incident.

Defending himself, Sachdev accused the victim actress of possibly "hallucinating" since he was asleep throughout the flight.