"Skin To Skin" Judgement Judge Under The Hammer From Supreme Court, Loses Permanent Judgeship.

Recently in news for her infamous judgments relating to the POCSO Act, Justice Pushpa V Ganediwala of Nagpur Bench of Bombay High Court has come under the hammer from Supreme Court.

Her Controversial judgments & Unmerited Acquittals of Accused persons In POCSO Cases has prompted the Supreme Court Collegium to withdraw their consent to make Justice Pushpa V Ganediwala a permanent judge of Bombay High Court. The three-member Collegium headed by CJI SA Bobde & comprising Justices NV Ramana and RF Nariman took the call to recall its Jan 20 recommendation made to the Central government to make Justice Ganediwala a permanent judge. She is currently an additional judge of Bombay High Court.

Justice Pushpa Ganediwala some days back acquitted a man accused of groping a 12-year-old girl's breast because he did not make skin-to-skin contact & also ruled that holding the hands of a five-year-old girl & unzipping pants does not amount to "sexual assault" under the POCSO Act.

Justice PV Ganediwala acquitted three men under the POCSO Act in three different cases, all within a week.

In a judgment delivered on Jan 14, she reversed a conviction order after noting that nothing was supporting the prosecution's case for rape (Jageshwar Wasudeo Kawle v. the State of Maharashtra).

On Jan 15, she held that the act of holding hands of a minor or the zip of the pants of the accused being open at the relevant time does not amount to sexual assault as defined under Section 7 of the POCSO Act (Libnus v. the State of Maharashtra).

On January 19 she ruled that groping the breast of a child aged 12 years without removing her top & without skin-to-skin contact will not fall within the definition of ‘sexual assault’ under Section 7 of POCSO (Satish Ragde v. the State of Maharashtra).

Though on Jan 27 Supreme court stayed the latest order of Bombay High Court after an intervention from Attorney General KK Venugopal, The Attorney General stated that such orders would set a dangerous precedent.

It has also been reported in the media that this decision has come on the recommendation of two senior Judges (Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice AM Khanwilkar) of the Supreme Court coming from Bombay High Court (Maharashtra).

Justice PV Ganediwala was appointed as a District Judge in 2007 & was elevated as Additional Judge of Bombay High Court in Jan 2019.

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