Denial of Justice: A Paradox between Bombay High Court Judgments and POCSO Act
Imagine a child coming to her mother complaining about a person who has touched the child’s private parts inappropriately; in response, the mother has to tell the child that the attempt wasn’t a sexual assault as the person hasn’t touched the child underneath his or her clothes. This may sound pretty absurd, but this is what the recent Bombay High Court Judgment on Sexual Assault implies. On 19 th January, in a very shocking and insensitive judgement, the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court, headed by Justice Pushpa Ganediwala, ruled that there must be “ skin-to-skin contact ’’ with sexual intent for an act to be deemed as sexual assault (Scroll Staff, 2021). Read More...