Protest Over POCSO Ruling: Woman Sends Condoms To Bombay HC Judge Over Protest Against Verdict

Asserting that “women have to stand for their rights”, Trivedi said “men can go scot-free for sexually assaulting girls over their clothes” courtesy the verdict pronounced by Justice Ganediwala.

Bombay High Court | AFP

Expressing disappointment over Bombay High Court Additional Judge Justice Pushpa V Ganediwala’s recent controversial verdict in a sexual assault case under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, a woman from Uttar Pradesh’s Allahabad has sent 150 condoms to the former as a mark of protest.

Political analyst Devshri Trivedi demanded the High Court Judge’s suspension for what she called “injustice”.

“I cannot tolerate injustice. A minor girl did not get justice because of a judgment by Justice Ganediwala. I am demanding that she (Justice Ganediwala) be suspended,” said Trivedi.

Devshri Trivedi referred to the verdict pronounced by Justice Ganediwala on January 19 where she acquitted a man of sexual assault on grounds that pressing the breasts of a child over her clothes without direct “skin to skin” physical contact does not constitute “sexual assault” under the POCSO Act.

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Asserting that “women have to stand for their rights”, Trivedi said, “men can go scot-free for sexually assaulting girls over their clothes” as per the verdict pronounced by Justice Ganediwala.

“As a woman, I do not feel I have done anything wrong. I do not have any guilt,” she said.

Trivedi, who had sent the packets on February 9, said that she had received delivery reports for a few of them. 

The Nagpur bench’s registry office, however, said they did not receive any packet of this nature with Nagpur Bar Association senior advocate Shrirang Bhandarkar stating this to be a clear case of contempt and demanded action against the woman.

Hearing a criminal appeal filed against the conviction and sentence given to a 50-year-old man for molesting a five-year-old girl, a bench of Justice Pushpa Ganediwala had earlier ruled that holding a minor’s hands and unzipping one’s pants in front of a minor will not fall under the definition of sexual assault under the POCSO Act.