Sexual Assault
Groping without skin-to-skin contact not sexual assault: Bombay HC
Mumbai/IBNS: The Bombay High Court has said groping a minor's breast without a skin-to-skin contact cannot be considered as a sexual assault, media reports said.
Justice Pushpa Ganediwala of the Nagpur bench of Bombay HC said there must be a "skin-to-skin contact with sexual intent" to be considered as an act of sexual assault.
Ganediwala has modified an order of a sessions court which had awarded a 39-year-old man a three-year imprisonment for sexually assaulting a 12-year old girl.
As per the minor's testament in 2016, the man, named Satish, took the girl to his home in Nagpur on the pretext of giving her something to eat.
"Considering the stringent nature of punishment provided for the offence (under POCSO), in the opinion of this court, stricter proof and serious allegations are required," the high court said as quoted by NDTV.
"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 the top and pressed her breast, would not fall in the definition of sexual assault," the order further said.
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