Dubai: A salesman lost his appeal and will be jailed for three months for groping a teenaged girl while she was shopping at a hypermarket in Bur Dubai.

The 41-year-old Indian salesman walked in front of the 16-year-old Indian girl and when she was beside a shelf, he bumped into her from the front, apologised and walked away as if nothing had happened in December.

The girl, who thought it was a mistake, continued checking up the goods displayed on the shelf before the man touched her inappropriately yet again, smiled at her as he pretended to apologise and walked away.

The confused girl left the hypermarket and as she stood outside, she saw the 41-year-old standing behind a glass partition and smiling at her.

She walked back into the hypermarket and scolded the 41-year-old, who left the place once she told him that she would report him to the police.

She told her father about what had happened and the latter reported the matter to the police.

In May, the Dubai Court of First Instance convicted the 41-year-old of breaching the girl’s modesty and groping her.

The accused appealed his three-month imprisonment and sought to prove his innocence before the Appeal Court.

Presiding judge Saeed Salem Bin Sarm rejected the defendant’s appeal and confirmed the jail sentence.

He will be deported after the jail term.

The 16-year-old said the incident happened around 6.30pm while she was shopping. “The first time he ran into me, his hands touched my top but he apologised … I thought it happened by mistake. Fifteen minutes later, he popped out of nowhere and groped me for three seconds without moving his hands away. This time he looked straight in my face, smiled, said sorry and walked away. I felt offended and angry and I left the hypermarket. While I was standing on the pavement and saw him smiling at me from behind the glass, I told myself that he had done it on purpose. I went back in and scolded him. I told him in a loud voice that he did not have any right to touch any girl and that I would call the police. But he ran away when he heard me mention that,” she said.

The appellate ruling remains subject to appeal before the Cassation Court within 28 days.