New Delhi – An Indian court has ruled that groping a child cannot be considered sexual assault as long as there is no “skin-to-skin contact” or “sexual intent”. The January 19 ruling of Judge Pushpa V. Ganediwala of the Bombay High Court acquitted a 39-year-old man who had been accused of sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl in 2016 for any wrongdoing. It has drawn widespread criticism from activists in one country affected by rape and sexual violence.
During the trial, the girl accused the defendant in the case, a man named Satish, of bringing her home on the pretext that he had fed her and then groped her breast and tried to take off her clothes.
In her verdict, Judge Ganediwala said that the incident could not be defined as sexual assault under the National Act on the Protection of Children against Sexual Offenses (POCSO), as defined by “sexual assault”, a “physical contact with sexual intent without penetration” is an essential ingredient of the crime. “
According to the POCSO Act, sexual assault is defined as when someone, “with sexual intent” touches a child’s genitals, anus or breasts or causes a child to touch any other person in those areas, “or perform any other act with sexual intent involving contact without penetration. ”
Anyone convicted under the law is sentenced to a minimum of three years in prison. Earlier, a lower court sentenced Satish to the minimum term, but the Bombay High Court overturned the verdict and convicted Satish of the less serious charge of “outraged a woman’s modesty” and sentenced him to one year in prison plus a fine. of 500 Indian rupees ($ 7).
“The act of squeezing the breast of a 12-year-old child, in the absence of any specific detail if the tip was removed or if he put his hand on the tip and pressed his breast, would not fall within 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 the children’s rights group Bachpan Bachao Andolan, told CBS News that they will appeal India’s Supreme Court ruling if their legal team decides that the Bombay court misinterpreted the POSCO law.
“We consulted legal experts, we should make a decision in a day or two,” Tingal said.
India has a negative record of sexual violence against women and girls. According to government data released in September last year, an average of 87 rapes were reported every day in 2019. This was an increase of over 7% compared to 2018.
In March last year, India hang four men for the brutal gang rape of a paramedical student in Delhi in 2012. Rape and murder of a 23-year-old woman triggered massive street protests across India and brought global attention to the plight of women in India. But not much has changed since then.