MUMBAI, Aug. 6 -- The Bombay High Court on Wednesday discharged a 19-year-old student from the charge of sexual harassment in a case filed under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act. The 19-year-old has been accused of following, slapping and abusing a 17-year-old girl. The court held that the allegations stemmed out of a school-related altercation and did not disclose any "sexual intent" necessary to invoke the stringent legislation. A single-judge bench of Justice Shivkumar Dige, however, directed that the teenager continue to face trial for offences under the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including charges of stalking, insulting the modesty of a woman, and voluntarily causing hurt. The court was hearing a petition filed by the boy, who had challenged a special court's order passed in February 2020 refusing to discharge him from the case. According to the prosecution, the incident occurred in February 2020, when the victim was returning home. The accused allegedly followed her, abused her and then slapped her across the face, causing injury. Subsequently, an FIR was registered and a charge-sheet was filed under section 354-D (stalking), 509 (insulting the modesty of a woman), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) of the IPC, and under Section 12 (punishment for sexual harassment of a child) of the Pocso Act, against the 19-year-old. Represented by advocates Abhijeet Desai, Mohini Rehpade and Vijay Singh, the accused argued that he is a 19-year-old student with no criminal antecedents. He said the incident arose out of a childish fight between them and he confronted the victim about it later. "There was no sexual intent, which was not considered by the special court before passing the order against him. No ingredients of Section 12 of Pocso are attracted in the complaint," said the boy's counsel, urging the court to consider his plea. The state opposed the plea, contending that slapping and abusing the victim showed sexual intent and justified charges of outraging the modesty of the victim. "It does not appear that the accused had sexual intent as described in Section 12 of the POCSO Act. No case is made out against him under the Act," the bench concluded....