HC judge who gave controversial POCSO order acquitted 2 more

MUMBAI: Justice Pushpa Ganediwala of the Nagpur bench of the Bombay high court, whose controversial January 19 ruling that groping a minor without removing her clothes was not sexual assault but molestation was stayed by the Supreme Court on Wednesday, acquitted two more people in cases under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) on January 14 and 15, it has emerged.

In the judgment on January 15, she held that holding the hands of a minor and unzipping one’s trousers in front of her does not amount to “sexual assault,” acquitting a 50-yearold labourer from Maharashtra’s Gadchiroli district of the charge of “aggravated sexual assault” for doing so.

In the verdict on January 14, she reversed a lower court order convicting a 23-year-old accused of rape of a minor on the grounds that the testimony did not “inspire confidence” and wasn’t of “sterling quality”. She also said the birth certificate of the minor was not verified.

The judgments have raised questions about the judge’s handling of POCSO cases. In all three cases, accused convicted under the POCSO Act were acquitted by her. Pradeep Nandrajog, a former chief justice of Bombay HC, told news agency PTI the judgments were “flawed”.

On January 19, the judge acquitted a Nagpur resident of the charge of sexual assault under POCSO, interpreting the term “physical contact” in the law to mean “skin-to-skin” contact. The man was acquitted of sexual assault under the POCSO Act for groping the breast of a 12-year-old.