In a shocking development, the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court has held that “the act of holding a girl's hands and opening the zip of pants will not come under the definition of sexual assault.”
This comes after the incident earlier on January 24 when the Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court had stated that groping a child's breasts without 'skin-to-skin contact' would not be considered as an offence of 'sexual assault' under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses (POCSO) Act. Moreover, Justice Pushpa Ganediwala of the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court in the detailed copy of which has been made available now held that there must be "skin to skin contact with sexual intent" for an act to be considered sexual assault, shocking people across the state.
With regards to the recent ruling, Pushpa Ganediwala passed this order in a criminal appeal against the conviction and sentence awarded to a 50-year-old man for molesting a five-year-old girl. According to reports, the court had convicted the man and ruled it to be "aggravated sexual assault" punishable under Section 10 of POCSO and sentenced him to five years of rigorous imprisonment and a fine of INR 25,000 with a default simple imprisonment for six months.
Meanwhile, the Nagpur bench opined that the case comes under the gambit of “sexual harassment” and not “sexual assault”. “The offence of sexual harassment under Section 354A (1) (i), which deals with physical contact and advances involving unwelcome and explicit sexual overtures, is attracted in the case,” it said.
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