According to the report in Free Press Journal, the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court ruled that groping a minor’s breast is not sexual assault if the accused didn’t remove her outfit or had “skin to skin” contact.
This was ruled by a single-judge bench of Justice Pushpa Ganediwala while modifying the conviction of a man, who was sentenced to jail for sexually assaulting a minor girl.
The judge added that under POCSO, it is a sexual assault when the accused commits an act with “sexual Intent” and involves touching the private parts of the child or making the child touch the private organs of the accused.
Quoting from Free Press Journal-
“The act of pressing the breast of a child aged 12 years, in the absence of any specific detail as to whether the top was removed or whether he inserted his hand inside her top and pressed her breast, would not fall under the definition of ‘sexual assault’,” the judge held, adding, “it would certainly fall within the definition of section 354 of the IPC, which penalises outraging the modesty of a woman.”
The case-
A family filed a complaint over a man who tried to sexually assault a 12 years old girl.
The man took the girl to his house saying that he wanted to offer her a guava. When the family saw the kid, she was crying and narrated about being assaulted by the man. The family immediately filed a case and subsequently an FIR was lodged.
The accused had filed an appeal for the case.
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