‘Skin to skin’ yardstick a dangerous norm: AG
NEW DELHI: Attorney General KK Venugopal told the Supreme Court on Tuesday that making “skin to skin” contact a criterion to establish sexual assault against minors under the POCSO Act would set a dangerous precedent where a man who gropes a woman after wearing a surgical glove cannot be held guilty and can escape even the minimum punishment of three years prescribed under the Act.
The top law officer was addressing the Court in a petition filed by him against a controversial judgment passed by the Nagpur bench of the Bombay high court on January 19 this year which acquitted a man for groping a 12-year-old on the reasoning that there was no “skin to skin” contact. At the Attorney General’s instance, the Supreme Court stayed the judgment on January 27 and agreed to consider passing directions under Pocso Act to ensure such reasoning was not adopted by high courts to defeat the purpose of law. The high court’s order provoked widespread outrage.
The A-G emphasised that there were 43,000 Pocso cases
reported last year and that the Bombay high court judgment, if used as a precedent, may have serious repercussions on several other trials.
AG Venugopal, addressing the bench of Justices UU Lalit and Ajay Rastogi said: “The intention of the legislature was not to protect the accused but provide justice to minor victims. While passing this order, the judges (of the Bombay High Court) did not realize the farreaching consequences and the dangerous precedent this case will lay for the entire state.”
Explaining how this “skin to skin” criteria adopted by the High Court was open to misuse, Venugopal said, “If a person using surgical glove feels the entire body of a woman, including her private parts, he will escape the minimum punishable of three years for causing sexual assault under Pocso Act.”
Sexual Assault under Pocso is defined under Section 7 which says, “Whoever, with sexual intent touches the vagina, penis, anus or breast of the child or makes the child touch the vagina, penis, anus or breast of such person or any other person or does any other act with sexual intent which involves physical contact without penetration is said to commit sexual assault.”
This offence carries a minimum punishment of three years extending up to five years.
The HC judgment in question dealt with sexual assault charge against a 39-year-old man for groping a minor victim through her clothing. The allegation was that on December 14, 2016 the accused, who was a neighbor, took the girl to his house, and groped her.
He was convicted by the trial court but on appeal, the high court said, “Admittedly, it is not the case of the prosecution that the appellant removed her top and pressed her breast. As such, there is no direct physical contact i.e. skin to skin with sexual intent without penetration.”