Every second Bollywood potboiler has this dialogue.

Deo Narain Mandal learnt it the hard way. More than 20 years back Mandal had tried to abduct his lover. Today the Supreme Court put him behind bars for six months.

Mandal had a love affair with Kamla and in a heady moment on January 11, 1983, went to her house with his friends and tried to forcibly take her away from her house in Lucknow.

He, along with his friends were apprehended by her mother, maternal uncle and neighbours and handed over to police which registered a case of attempt to abduct and conspiracy.

A Lucknow trial court found him guilty of the offence on May 31, 1988, and sentenced him to two years imprisonment.

Last year, the high court taking into account the age, character and other antecedents of the appellant, reduced the sentence to the period of imprisonment already undergone while imposing a fine of Rs 5,000.

Meanwhile, both Mandal and Kamla had got married and were living with their respective spouses. Not satisfied with the reduction in sentence, Mandal appealed in the Supreme Court and invited trouble for himself.

A bench comprising Justice N Santosh Hegde, Justice S B Sinha and Justice A K Mathur said, "The conclusion of the high court for reducing the sentence, in out view, is wholly disproportionate to the offence of which the appellant is found guilty."

The bench said, "The fact that Kamla had an affair with Mandal would not, in any manner, give any right to him to forcibly take her away from her lawful guardianship."

On scrutiny of the records, the Supreme Court found that Mandal has undergone a total of 40 days imprisonment both as an undertrial and as a convict since committing the crime.

On the question of sentence, counsel for the accused K B Sinha submitted that apart from the fact that the incident in question had taken place nearly twenty years ago, the victim as well as the appellant were now married and settled in life.

He said a prolonged sentence in such a situation might have a deleterious effect on the family of the appellant and pointed out that the track record of Mandal had been clean since the sole unfortunate incident.

Rejecting the contention, the bench said, "On the facts and circumstances of this case, we must hold that the sentence of 40 days for such an offence is wholly inadequate and disproportionate."

While recording the conviction of the appellant, the bench directed the appellant to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of six months and a total fine of Rs 5,000.

Interestingly, the court directed that Kamla, the victim, be paid Rs 3,000 from the fine amount deposited by Mandal. The Ccourt warned that failure to pay the fine amount would invite a further imprisonment of two months.