The observation came while the top court was hearing the plea of the accused, who was sentenced to jail for sexually assaulting the minor girl.
There should be “skin-to-skin contact with sexual intent” in order to be considered as sexual assault, the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court observed in a recent ruling. Netizens were outraged by the observation of the bench, which said ‘mere groping’ will not fall under sexual assault.
The observation came while the top court was hearing the plea of the accused, who was sentenced to jail for sexually assaulting the minor girl.
Mere touching the chest of the minor will not amount to sexual assault unless the accused removes clothes of the victim or slid hands inside the garments, making it a physical contact, the court further ruled.
The single-judge bench of Justice Pushpa Ganediwala modified the conviction of a man while pronouncing the ruling.
“Admittedly, it is not the case of the prosecution that the accused 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,” the FPJ quoted the judge as saying.
involves committing assault with sexual intent and getting physical without penetration by touching the private parts of the child or making the child touch the private organs of the accused, noted the judge in the court hearing.
“Admittedly, it is not the case of the prosecution that the accused 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,” the judge noted, adding that, “it would certainly fall within the definition of section 354 of the IPC, which penalises outraging the modesty of a woman.”
The accused had lurked the victim on the pretext of offering guava, according to the FPJ report, and then took her to his house. When the girl’s mother reached the spot later, she found her daughter crying, who narrated the whole incident to her. The women then lodged an FIR against the accused.
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