Skin-to-skin verdict ‘ ’ judge gets extension

Weeks after the Supreme Court collegium withdrew its recommendation on appointment of Justice Pushpa Ganediwala as a permanent judge of the Bombay High Court, owing to her controversial judgments in cases of child sex abuse, the President of India has extended her tenure by one more year.

In a notification issued on the Union law ministry's website, it is stated, "The President is pleased to appoint Justice Pushpa Ganediwala as an additional judge of the Bombay HC for a period of one year from February 13, 2020."

Notably, Justice Ganediwala's present tenure as an additional judge was to end on Friday and she would have stepped down from her judgeship, had the government not extended her term.

Justice Ganediwala was in the news in the last week of January for three judgments she pronounced in POCSO cases that elicited much criticism.

Free Press Journal was the first newspaper to report all the three verdicts.

In one case, the judgment of which was pronounced on January 19, Justice Ganediwala acquitted the accused reasoning that his act of groping the girl's breast, without removing her top or sliding his hand inside, cannot be construed as sexual assault. She held that it is mandatory to establish a "skin to skin" contact for sexual assault under the POCSO law.