... then wearing socks will lead to rape: Supreme Court quashes 'skin contact' verdict

New Delhi, Dt
The Supreme Court has quashed the Bombay High Court's 'skin-to-skin contact' judgment in a case of sexual harassment under the Pox Act. The apex court said that if the Bombay High Court's verdict is upheld, wearing socks will lead to rape. The judgment of the High Court kills the very essence of the law. The purpose of the law cannot be to allow criminals to escape the law.
The apex court passed the order while hearing separate petitions filed by the Attorney General, Government of Maharashtra and National Commission for Women (NCW). The bench, presided over by Justice Yuu Lalit, quashed the Bombay High Court's judgment, saying that the most important factor in sexual harassment was sexual intent, not skin-to-skin contact with the child.
The apex court said that the courts could not create ambiguity in the provision when the constitution clearly states the intention. In this bench of the Supreme Court, Justice S. Ravindra Bhat and Justice Bella M Trivedi are also included. Justice Bella Trivedi termed the judgment of the High Court as irrational and said that it was ridiculous to have a condition of physical or skin contact to be considered an offense under the Poxo Act. The law is intended to protect children from sexual offenses. The court said that if the verdict was upheld, rapists wearing socks would be spared the crime. This will create a very strange situation. The bench said that the rules should be such as to strengthen the law, not to destroy it.
The apex court had convicted the accused in a case of touching and touching Sagira's body and sentenced him to two years. The apex court, in passing its judgment, observed that "even if the skin has not been touched, such an act is extremely regrettable."
Justice Pushpa Ganediwala of the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court said, "There was no skin-to-skin contact as the man did not take off Sagira's clothes and touched Sagira's breast from the clothes." Therefore, this crime cannot be called sexual harassment under the Poxo Act. This act of a man falls under the offense of 'molestation of a woman' as per section 4 of the IPC. In this case, the lower court convicted the accused under Poxo and sentenced him to three years imprisonment. However, the High Court held that the case was not a sexual assault under Poxo and considered it a case of molestation under section 4 of the IPC. However, a bench of the apex court headed by the chief justice had on January 9 stayed the judgment of the high court in the hearing of the petition filed against the judgment.