New Delhi – An Indian court has ruled that groping a child cannot be considered sexual violence as long as there is no “skin-to-skin contact” or “sexual intent”. The January 19 verdict of Pushpa V. Ganediwala, judge in Bombay, acquitted a 39-year-old man who was charged with sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl in 2016. It has received widespread criticism from activists in a country plagued by rape and sexual violence.
During the trial, the girl accused the defendant in the case, a man who only goes by the name of Satish, to bring her to his house on the pretext of feeding her and then groping her chest and trying to take off her clothes.
In her verdict, Judge Ganediwala said the incident could not be defined as sexual assault under the National Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses (POCSO) as’ according to the definition of ‘assault’, a ‘physical contact with sexual intent without penetration’ is an essential ingredient of the offense. “
According to the POCSO law, sexual assault is defined as the fact that someone ‘with sexual intentions’ touches a child’s genitals, anus or breasts or allows a child to touch another person in those areas,’ or performs any other act with sexual intentions involving physical contact without penetration. ”
Anyone convicted under the law is sentenced to a minimum of three years in prison. A lower court had previously sentenced Satish to that minimum term, but the Bombay Supreme Court overturned the sentence and convicted Satish on the less serious charge of “ harming a woman’s modesty ” and sentenced him to a one-year prison term plus a fine. from 500 Indian rupees ($ 7).
‘Pressing on the chest of a 12-year-old child, in the absence of any specific detail as to whether the top was removed or whether he reached in and pressed her chest, would not fall under the definition of sexual assault,’ the court said.
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The verdict angered activists who have fought for the sexual safety of women and children in India for years.
Dhananjay Tingal, executive director of children’s rights group Bachpan Bachao Andolan, told CBS News that they would appeal the ruling to India’s Supreme Court if their legal team finds that the Bombay court is misinterpreting POSCO law.
“We consulted legal experts, we should have a decision in a day or two,” Tingal said.
India has a dismal track record of sexual violence against women and girls. According to government data released last September, an average of 87 rapes were reported per day in 2019. That meant an increase of more than 7% compared to 2018.
Last March, India four men hanged for the brutal gang rape of a paramedic student in Delhi in 2012. The rape and murder of the 23-year-old woman caused massive street protests across India and brought the plight of Indian women to worldwide attention. But not much has changed since then.