New Delhi – An Indian court has ruled that a child’s palpation cannot be considered sexual assault as long as there is no “skin-to-skin contact” or “sexual intent”. Bombay court ruling Pushpa V. Ganediwala on January 19 authorized a 39-year-old man who had been accused of sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl in 2016 of any wrongdoing. It has provoked widespread criticism from activists in one country plagued by rape and sexual violence.
During the trial, the girl accused the defendant in the case, a man named Satish, of taking her home on the pretext of feeding her and then palpating 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 Law on the Protection of Minors from Sex Offenses (POCSO), as defined by “sexual assault”. a “physical contact with sexual intent without penetration is an essential ingredient of the crime.”
Under the POCSO law, sexual assault is defined as when someone “with sexual intent” touches a child’s genitals, anus, or breasts or causes a child to touch anyone else in those areas ”or does 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. A lower court had previously sentenced Satish to this minimum term, but the Bombay High Court overturned the verdict and convicted Satish of the less serious charge of “outraging a woman’s modesty” and sentencing him to prison. for one more year a fine of 500 Indians. rupees ($ 7).
“The act of squeezing the 12-year-old’s chest, in the absence of any specific details about whether he removed the top or whether he inserted his hand inside the top and squeezed the chest, would not fall into the definition of sexual assault, ”the court said.
Idrees Abbas / SOPA Images / LightRocket / Getty
The verdict angered activists who have fought for years for the sexual safety of women and children in India.
Dhananjay Tingal, executive director of children’s rights group Bachpan Bachao Andolan, told CBS News that they will appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court of India if their legal team determines that the Bombay court misinterpreted the POSCO Act .
“We consulted legal experts, we should have a decision in a day or two,” Tingal said.
India has a sad history of sexual violence against women and girls. According to government data released in September last year, an average of 87 violations were recorded every day in 2019. This represented an increase of more than 7% over 2018.
In March last year, India hung four men for the brutal gang rape of a paramedic student in Delhi in 2012. The rape and murder of a 23-year-old woman provoked massive street protests all over India and drew worldwide attention to the situation of women in India. But not much has changed since then.