ipc section-354

Dear sir,

Section 354 of IPC deals with "Assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty." It basically states that whoever assaults or uses criminal force to any woman, intending to outrage or knowing it to be likely that he will thereby outrage her modesty, shall be punished with imprisonment of either descripttion for a term which shall not be less than one year but which may extend to five years, and shall also be liable to fine.

But, what constitutes an outrage to female modesty is nowhere defined. Also, this provision was enacted to safeguard public morality and decent behaviour. Through the Criminal Law Amendment Act, 2013 there was no change in the definition of the offence but the punishment was been changed from imprisonment of two years to imprisonment extending up to five years. 

If you want to read some landmark judgments regarding this section, then I would suggest you to go through the case of Rupan Deol Bajaj vs KPS Gill 1996 AIR 309, 1995 SCC (6) 194.

Hope this helps.