We keep doing this over and over again. One step forward, only to fall back many. Recently the Bombay High Court (Nagpur Bench) ruled that a minor was not sexually assualted, as per her reading and intrepretation of the term “sexual assault” as per the POSCO Act 2012.

7. Sexual assault.—Whoever, with sexual intent touches the vagina, penis, anus or breast of the child or makes the child touchthe 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.

– “THE PROTECTION OF CHILDREN FROM SEXUAL OFFENCES ACT, 2012” from https://www.indiacode.nic.in/bitstream/123456789/2079/1/201232.pdf

The judge presiding the case Justice Pushpa Ganediwala read this clause and found that there needs to be “skin to skin” contact.
No where in the clause above, the definition specifies the need for skin to skin contact. The judge should have looked and read these words “with sexual intent” and “touches” which is the first statement in the definition above. I dont think a lot dictionary and thesaurus is required to translate that intent existed when man touched a 12 year old’s breasts, and more importantly he “groped”, and touch does not require that the skin from his palm makes contact with the skin on her body. By this token, any male has a free hand – ie wearing a glove to go around and grope children. Without fully understanding the premise of the POSCO Act, this lady reduced the sentence for a sick man to 1 year, and under the regular Penal Code.
I posted the picture from a newspaper quite intentionally to drive the point that the judgement was offered by a lady justice. Although a gender analysis may not be warranted, it still strikes me as a odd that a woman would have found in her, clemency for such an indvidual who is nothing but a pevert.

In good news that followed, the Supreme Court has already stayed this judgement and sentence, thereby for now upholding the earlier conviction under POSCO. The Supreme Court’s track record of recent times has not been stellar either. But i am quite confident they will overrule this erratic judgement. But then again, they have surprised me enough to keep my fingers crossed.

We supposedly write up these fancy new laws to help and empower children, women and families. But soon we have lawyers willing to take big money from the rich and powerful, only to dice up the sections, parse the words and chew the spirit of the law. A judge in the court of law is therefore the voice of reason; the person who finds a balance between these desperations and spirit of the law. I do fully understand that this can be counter-intuitive when the person accused is actually not guilty of the crime charged. But, i just said, the voice of reason would therefore make the final judgement. I dont have seen the full judgement copy to comprehend the basis of the judge. But no matter what, the logic of touch requiring “skin to skin” contact is rather bizzare.
The POSCO when it was passed in 2012, was done with a lot of criticism that the law was not stringent enough. And verdicts and rulings like these, only helps to attenuate the effect whatever is left on the books.

For now the impact of this judgement is delayed, thanks to the SCI. So that again is a step forward. I can only wonder what is in store on this now!