Setback For Judge Who Gave ‘No Skin-To-Skin Contact’ Order: Sources

New Delhi:

Justice Pushpa V Ganediwala, the Bombay High Court judge who delivered controversial orders including the “no skin-to-skin contact” order in a case of sexual assault on a child, will not be made a permanent judge, sources have told NDTV. This is the second time that the Supreme Court Collegium has decided to not grant her permanent status.

This means Justice Ganediwala, who is currently a Judge in the Nagpur Bench of Bombay High Court, will have to revert back as a District Judge at the end of her ad hoc judgeship in February next year.

Justice Ganediwala was granted a one-year extension, instead of two years as recommended by the Supreme Court collegium, by the Centre in February.

The order from the Centre came a month after the Supreme Court panel, in a rare instance, withdrew its recommendation to the government to confirm her permanent status as a Bombay High Court judge. The decision was based on the possible need for “more exposure” in such cases, sources in the top court had then told NDTV.

“There is nothing personal against her. She needs exposure and may not have dealt with these types of cases when she was a lawyer…She needs exposure and training,” a source had told NDTV.

In a January 19 ruling, Justice Ganediwala raised eyebrows when she ruled that groping a minor’s breast without “skin-to-skin contact” cannot be termed as sexual assault as defined under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. The verdict by Justice Ganediwala was quashed by the Supreme Court last month on November 18 after several pleas were filed against it, including those by the Attorney General of India and National Commission for Women. 

Later, in another case, Justice Ganediwala ruled that “the acts of ‘holding the hands of the prosecutrix’ (female victim), or ‘opened zip of the pant’…does not fit in the definition of ‘sexual assault’,” and quashed the conviction of a man under POCSO. The victim, in this case, was a five-year-old minor.

Following these judgments, the Collegium reversed its decision to recommend Justice Ganediwala a permanent judge, sources said.

The Supreme Court Collegium is rarely known to recall or withdraw the recommendations it makes to the government. Besides Chief Justice NV Ramana, Justices UU Lalit and Justice AM Khanwilkar are part of the three-member Collegium, which takes decisions related to various High Court judges.