Sexual Intent, Not Skin-to-Skin; Supreme Court Quashed Bombay HC Verdict

The Supreme Court stated that "sexual intent, not skin-to-skin" is the most significant part in convicting sexual predators under the POCSO Act.

The Supreme Court has overturned the Bombay High Court ruling that groping a minor's breast without skin-to-skin contact is not illegal under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. The Supreme Court has ruled that touching minor children with sexual intent, whether with or without clothes, is an offence under Section 7 of the POCSO Act. The Supreme Court refused to accept the Bombay High Court's ruling, calling it a "narrow interpretation of the law" that would undermine the POCSO Act itself.

In 2020, Satish Bandu Ragde from Maharashtra was convicted by the lower court under both POCSO and IPC provisions after the mother of a 12-year-old girl filed a police complaint against him. The 12-year-old told her mother that Ragde had held her by hand and led her to his house on the pretense of giving her a guava, but once inside, he tried to remove her salwar and grabbed her breasts. The convict then appealed to the High Court.

On January 19th of this year, the controversial verdict was delivered by Justice Pushpa V Ganediwala, overturning the lower court's ruling against convict Ragde under Section 8 of the POCSO, which applies to "sexual assault" on children.

According to Justice Ganediwala. "The act of pressing the 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 within the definition of "sexual assault."

The Bombay High Court had also ruled that touching the body over a garment was an offence under Section 354 of the Indian Penal Code.

The Supreme Court bench headed by Justice U.U. Lalit, however, determined that this position by the Bombay High Court could not be accepted. When it comes to sexual assault, the most significant question is whether there was sexual intent. The Supreme Court also held that the objective of the POCSO Act could not be defeated by the narrow position that skins should touch each other.

The Supreme Court made the judgement on the plea by Attorney General K.K. Venugopal, the Maharashtra government and the National Commission for Women. The Attorney General had argued that if the Bombay High Court's decision was upheld by the Supreme Court, a person who assaulted a child by wearing a surgical glove could not be prosecuted under the POCSO Act.

As the Bombay High Court's decision was overturned by the Supreme Court, Ragde will have to serve three years in prison and pay the fine imposed by the lower court.