The Bombay high court judge who gave ‘skin-to-skin’ Pocso order will again be a district court judge

Justice Pushpa V Ganediwala, the Bombay High Court judge who made controversial judgement orders like the "skin-to-skin" verdict in the sexual assault of a minor, will not be made a permanent judge. This is the second time that the Supreme Court collegium has rejected her elevation as a High Court judge. This means Justice Ganediwala, currently a temporary judge with the Bombay High Court, will return to her District Judge post when her stint ends in February. In a rare instance of demotion of a high court judge, the Supreme Court Collegium has decided not to recommend the name of Justice Pushpa V Ganediwala as permanent judge of Bombay High Court after two of her verdicts were closely scrutinised for controversial interpretation of sexual assault under Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012. The collegium comprising Chief Justice N V Ramana and Justices U U Lalit and A M Khanwilkar decided not to grant further extension of the tenure. Her two controversial judgments, including one that held skin-to-skin contact is must for constituting a sexual offence, had forced the earlier collegium headed by then CJI S A Bobde to withdraw its January 20 recommendation to the government to appoint her as a permanent judge of the HC. It then recommended to the Centre to grant her a two-year extension as additional judge. However, the government disagreed and granted her a one-year extension, which will end on February 12, 2022. On January 16, 2019, the collegium headed by then CJI Ranjan Gogoi and comprising Justices A K Sikri and Bobde had recommended her appointment as an additional judge of the HC. At the time of initial consideration of the Bombay HC collegium’s proposal to appoint her as additional judge, the consultee judges in the SC — Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud (both having Bombay as parent HC) — had conveyed their serious objections. Justice Ganediwala had stunned many with her January 19 judgment acquitting a 39-year-old man of Section 7 offence under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act on the ground that groping a 12-year-old girl without removing her top did not entail skin-to-skin contact and hence was not an offence under the Act. A Nagpur trial court in February 2020 had sentenced the man to three years’ imprisonment under Section 8 of the Pocso Act and Section 354 of IPC (outraging the modesty) for the unwanted contact. Within nine days of such an interpretation, Justice Ganediwala on January 28 delivered another judgement showcasing her judicial mindset. She gave a ruling acquitting a 50-year-old man that holding the hand of a five-year-old kid and unzipping pants in front of her could not be categorised as a sexual offence under Section 7 of the Pocso Act. Following these judgments, the Collegium reversed its decision to recommend Justice Ganediwala a permanent judge.