The Supreme Court on Thursday set aside the controversial judgment issued by the Bombay High Court, which sparked a huge row and drew backlash from citizens. The Bombay HC had earlier said that “skin to skin” contact was necessary in case of sexual assault under the POSCO Act, which now stands reversed.
A Supreme Court bench consisting of Justices UU Lalit, S Ravindra Bhat, and Bela M Trivedi stated that the “ingredient of the offense of sexual assault” under the POSCO Act is the sexual intent of the offender, and skin to skin contact holds no relevance in this regard.
The bench said, “The most important ingredient for constituting the offense of sexual assault is sexual intent and not skin-to-skin contact with the child. The construction of a rule should give effect to the rule rather than destroy it. The intention of the legislature cannot be given effect to unless the wider interpretation is given.”
The court further said that the true intent of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act would stand destroyed if the meaning of skin to skin contact and touch was restricted, leading to a “narrows and absurd interpretation” of the act.
The judgment of the Bombay High Court had sparked a huge controversy after it had ruled on January 19 that pressing the breast of a 12-year-old child without removing her clothes will only fall within the definition of outraging the modesty of a woman under Section 354 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and not sexual assault under the POCSO.
In lieu of its judgment, the accused man was acquitted for an offense under Section 7 of POCSO on the ground that the victim was clothed and there was no “skin-to-skin” contact, sparking a huge outrage on social media against the ruling.
The Bombay High Court had ruled, “The act of pressing of breast of the 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 top and pressed her breast, would not fall in the definition of ‘sexual assault’. It would certainly fall within the definition of the offense under Section 354 of the Indian Penal Code.”
