Swarna Shukla-
Published On: September 30, 2021 at 11:22 IST
The Supreme Court heard a Plea by the Attorney General of India, K.K Venugopal, against the impugned Order passed by the Bombay High Court.
The Order passed by the Bombay High Court stated requirement of skin-to-skin contact of the Accused with the child victim to establish Sexual Assault under the Section 7 of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act showed a lack of sensibility to the fact that children are most vulnerable to Sexual Crimes as they are unable to defend themselves.
Attorney General Venugopal submitted the Order passed by Justice Pushpa Ganediwala of the Bombay High Court, and emphasized the seriousness of the matter by the cited findings of Kailash Satyarthi’s Report on the Status of POCSO cases before different Courts Nationwide and brought the Court’s attention to the number of cases reported in a year.
Section 7 of the POCSO Act says, “Whoever, with sexual intent touches the vagina, penis, anus or breasts of the child or makes the child touch the vagina, penis, anus or breasts of such person or any other person or does any other act with sexual intent which involves physical contact without penetration is said to commit sexual assault.”
The Bombay High Court acquitted a man for groping 12-year-old through her clothes, as there was no physical contact, he was left off under the stringent POCSO Act and was sentenced to one year imprisonment under Section 354 of Indian Penal Code, for outrage of modesty.
The National Commission for Women and the Maharashtra Government also appealed against the 19th January Order of the High Court where the same issue of physical contact being must to prove Section 7 offences. The same Judge passed an Order acquitting a man who held the hand of a minor after unzipping his pants.
The Bench of Justice U.U Lalit and Justice S. Ravindra Bhat and Bela M Trivedi has appointed Senior Advocate Sidharth Dave as Amicus Curiae. He informed the Court that for proving Section 7, Sexual Intention is must.
The matter is listed for further hearing.
Also Read: Calcutta HC: Voluntary Joint Sexual Act will not attract Offences under POCSO