New Delhi: According to news in the morning, Justice Pushpa Ganediwala, who came into the limelight by giving a verdict in the Skin to Skin Touch case, has given her resignation. Yes, according to the news received, today i.e. February 11 will be his last term day. Anyway, she was about to retire on 12 February. It is being told that after the resignation, she will do her practice in the High Court or the Supreme Court.
Significantly, the Supreme Court Collegium had decided not to recommend the name of a woman additional judge of the Bombay High Court, Justice Pushpa V Ganediwala, as a permanent judge.
It is to be known that while delivering the verdict on the POCSO case, Ganediwala had given some controversial decisions including ‘Skin-to-Skin Contact’. According to their judgment, if there is no ‘skin-to-skin’ contact between the accused and the victim, then there is no offense of sexual harassment under the POSCO Act.
However, earlier also, the central government had disagreed with the collegium’s decision to grant him an extension of two years as an additional judge. It had given an extension of only one year on the grounds of its insensitivity towards children facing sexual abuse.
Judgment of Justice Pushpa V Ganediwala
On November 18, 2021, the Supreme Court set aside two judgments of Justice Gaediwala passed in January 2020, giving information about sexual harassment provisions under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses (POCSO) Act. Actually, Justice had to face fierce criticism for a decision. In his decision, she acquitted the accused of touching a minor inappropriately. She had given her decision on the ground that touching a minor girl without removing her clothes was not an offense under the POCSO Act, as there was no skin-to-skin contact. This decision was passed on 19 January 2020.
