SC Stays Bombay HC 'Skin-To-Skin' Verdict On Sexual Assault Under POCSO Act
The apex court also issued notice to the Maharashtra Government and permitted the Attorney General to file an appeal against the verdict of the Bombay High Court’s Nagpur bench.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday stayed the Bombay High Court order, which acquitted a man charged under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) on grounds that groping a minor's breast without 'skin to skin contact' cannot be termed as sexual assault as defined under the special law meant to deal with crimes against children.
A bench of Chief Justice S.A. Bobde and Justices A.S. Bopanna and V. Ramasubramanian stayed the Bombay High Court after Attorney General K.K. Venugopal mentioned the matter before the apex court.
The apex court also issued notice to the Maharashtra Government and permitted the Attorney General to file an appeal against the verdict of the Bombay High Court’s Nagpur bench.
The Bombay High Court had on January 19 modified the order of a sessions’ court, which had sentenced a 39-year-old man to three years of imprisonment for sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl.
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“There is no direct physical contact i.e skin to skin with sexual intent without penetration,” a single-judge bench of Justice Pushpa V. Ganediwala reportedly said, adding that it would be termed as outraging the modesty of a woman under the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Justice Ganediwala in her verdict modified the order of a sessions court, which had sentenced the 39-year-old man to three years imprisonment for sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl under POCSO along with Sections 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty); 363 (punishment for kidnapping); and 342 (punishment for wrongful confinement) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
The man had then moved the High Court against the judgement through his lawyer Sabahat Ullah.
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“As per the definition, the offence involves following necessary ingredients — act must have been committed with sexual intent, act must involve touching the vagina, penis, anus or breast of the child or making the child touch the vagina, penis, anus or breast of such person or any other person or doing any other act with sexual intent which involve contact without penetration,” the High Court said in its judgement.
Several women rights activists and the National Commission for Women (NCW) have also expressed their ire over the verdict.
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