The Supreme Court collegium has withdrawn its recommendation to appoint Justice Pushpa Ganediwala as a permanent judge of the Bombay High Court, following controversy over her recent orders on POCSO Act offences, according to several media reports.
Justice Ganediwala, an additional judge of the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court, has come in for serious flak over her acquittals of men under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, including one where she held that groping a minor without ‘skin-to-skin’ contact shouldn’t be considered sexual assault.
Other judgments that have come to light include acquitting (of POCSO Act offences) a man who had been found holding the hand of a minor girl with his pants unzipped, and clearing a man of rape charges because there hadn’t been a scuffle to indicate forced sex.