The Indian court has ruled that groping without taking off your clothes is not an assault

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In a verdict last week, Pushpa Ganediwala, Bombay Supreme Court Judge, ruled that a 39-year-old man was not guilty of sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl for not taking her clothes off, meaning no skin on it. skin contact.

According to court documents, the man brought the child to his home on the pretext of giving her guava in December 2016. While there, he touched her chest and tried to take off her underwear, the ruling said.

He was found guilty of sexual assault and sentenced to three years in prison in a lower court, but then appealed to the High Court.

In her January 19 judgment, Judge Ganediwala found that his act “would not fall under the definition of ‘sexual assault,'” which carries a minimum of three years’ imprisonment, which can be extended to five years.

“Given the strict nature of the punishment given for the crime, this court believes that stronger evidence and serious charges are required,” she wrote. The Indian Protection of Children From Sexual Offenses Act 2012 does not explicitly state that skin-to-skin contact is necessary to constitute the crime of sexual assault.

Judge Ganediwala acquitted the accused of sexual assault but convicted him on the lower charge of assault and sentenced him to one year in prison.

“It is the basic tenet of criminal case law that the penalty for a crime is in proportion to the seriousness of the crime,” she said.

India’s problem of sexual assault

Indians took to social media after the Bombay Supreme Court’s decision was released to question the logic of the court’s decision, setting a new precedent. Other high courts and lower courts across the country will now have to follow the decision of the Bombay Supreme Court.

The National Commission for Women said it intended to legally challenge the verdict, which it said would have a “gradual effect on various provisions on women’s safety and security”.

Karuna Nundy, an attorney at the Supreme Court of India, the country’s highest court, called for retraining of judges who have passed judgments that are “completely contrary to established law” and fundamental rights.

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“Such statements contribute to impunity for crimes against girls,” she says tweeted.

Ranjana Kumari, the director of the non-profit center for social research, which stands up for women’s rights in India, said the verdict is “shameful, scandalous, shocking and devoid of judicial caution.”

Sexual assault is a huge problem in India, where sex crimes are often cruel and widespread, but often poorly addressed according to the country’s legal system. Based on official figures from 2018, the rape of a woman is reported every 16 minutes.
Following a high-profile case in 2012, when a 23-year-old student was raped and murdered on a bus in New Delhi, legal reforms and tougher penalties were introduced.

That included fast track courts to move rape cases quickly through the justice system, a changed definition of rape to include anal and oral penetration, and the publication of new government guidelines designed to do away with the two-finger test that supposedly assessed whether a woman has recently had sexual intercourse.

But high profile rape cases continue to make headlines. Last year, the number of cases sparked outrage, including the case of a 13-year-old girl who was raped and found dead in a field, and an 86-year-old woman who was allegedly raped while waiting for the milkman.
Activists have pointed to ongoing problems in the justice system. For example, under the Indian legal system, the sexual abuse of a transgender person carries a maximum sentence of two years in prison.

CNN’s Swati Gupta and Manveena Suri contributed to the reporting.

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