Pressing Breast Of Child Over Clothes Without 'Skin To Skin' Contact Not A Sexual Assault, Rules Bombay HC

A single-judge bench in its verdict said that it would be termed as outraging the modesty of a woman under the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

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The Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court has pronounced a highly debatable verdict aquitting 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 the special law meant to deal with crimes against children.

“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).

In her verdict  passed on January 19, Justice Pushpa Ganediwala modified the order of a sessions court, which had sentenced the 39-year-old man to three years of 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 judgment through his lawyer Sabahat Ullah.

The high court in its judgement read out that "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.