High Court: No sexual assault if no skin-to-skin contact

Mumbai, January 24

Groping a minor’s breast without “skin-to-skin contact” cannot be termed as sexual assault as defined under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, the Bombay High Court has said.

Justice Pushpa Ganediwala of the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court, in a judgment passed on January 19, the detailed copy of which was made available now, held that there must be “skin to skin contact with sexual intent” for an act to be considered sexual assault. She said in her verdict that mere groping would not fall under the definition of sexual assault.

Justice Ganediwala modified the order of a Sessions Court, which had sentenced a 39-year-old man to three years of imprisonment for sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl. — PTI