The appellate instance of the Sirdaryo regional court has overturned a ruling that held an 18-year-old girl administratively liable for petty hooliganism. This was reported by the regional courts' press service.
The incident was previously covered by the anti-violence project Nemolchi.uz. According to the project, 26-year-old Sardorjon Hayitboyev worked as a coach-teacher at a local sports school, and the victim (referred to as Sevara in the project) was his former student. The incident occurred on July 17, about two weeks after the girl turned 18.
The former coach met her in a park, proposed sexual intercourse, and committed acts of a sexual nature. Hayitboyev was found guilty under Part 1 of Article 41¹ of the Administrative Responsibility Code for sexual harassment and sentenced to five days of administrative detention.
At the same time, an administrative protocol was also drawn up against the girl. By a decision of the Saykhunabad district criminal court on July 28, she was found guilty of petty hooliganism under Article 183 and fined 1,236,000 soums. The Nemolchi.uz project criticized this decision, asking: "Whose peace did the girl's scream disturb — the passers-by who heard the harassment, or the coach who failed to carry out his plan?"
The girl appealed the decision. The appellate instance of the Sirdaryo regional court, after reviewing the case, overturned the first-instance court's ruling. The case against the girl was terminated under Part 1 of Article 271 of the Administrative Responsibility Code due to the absence of an administrative offense.
In March, Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration Nodira Khakimova stated that the five-day administrative detention for sexual harassment is insufficient and too formal, causing sharp public discontent. She made this remark regarding plans to strengthen penalties.
The Nemolchi.uz project has previously noted that in Uzbekistan, in some cases, lewd acts against children are classified not as crimes but as sexual harassment and administrative offenses. It is worth recalling that earlier, a man who suffocated a colleague with a pillow in a hotel during a business trip for refusing intimacy was sentenced to five days for sexual harassment.
Source: www.gazeta.uz