The Bombay High Court`s Nagpur bench has acquitted a 35-year-old man accused of molesting a teenage girl in 2015, ruling that merely saying "I love you" is an expression of feelings and does not, in itself, amount to "sexual intent".

Justice Urmila Joshi-Phalke, presiding over the bench, stated in the order passed on Monday that any sexual act typically includes inappropriate touching, forcible disrobing, or indecent gestures or remarks made with an intent to insult the modesty of a woman, reported PTI.

According to the initial complaint, the man had accosted the 17-year-old victim in Nagpur, held her hand, and then said "I love you."