Justice Pushpa Ganediwala, Author Of Controversial POCSO Judgment, Not Made Permanent Judge; To Continue As Additional Judge Of Bombay HC

Accepting the revised recommendation made by the Supreme Court Collegium to not make Justice Pushpa V Ganediwala of the Bombay High Court a permanent judge, the Ministry of Law and Justice has extended her term as an additional judge.

A notification issued by the Ministry says that Justice Ganediwala will continue as an additional judge for one more year, from February 13.

The judge of the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court had come under scanner following a controversial judgment which laid down that mere groping over the clothes without actual 'skin to skin contact' will not amount to sexual assault under the POCSO Act. Holding thus, the judge acquitted a man accused of touching a minor girls breasts without removing her clothes under POCSO Act, though convicted him under a lesser offence of Section 354 of the IPC.

The judgment received widespread condemnation as setting a dangerous precedent. The Supreme Court stayed the judgment on a mention being made by the Attorney General for India.

Following the controversy, the Supreme Court collegium revoked the recommendation made by it on January 20 to make her a permanent judge of the Bombay High Court.

In two other judgments this month, Justice Ganediwala acquitted two men accused of raping minor girls after noting that the testimonies of the victims did not inspire confidence to fix criminal liability on the accused. In one judgment, Justice Ganediwala held that the act of holding a minor girl's hands and opening the zip of pants will not come under the definition of "sexual assault" under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act 2012. However, the Court held that such acts would amount to "sexual harassment" under Section 354-A(1)(i) of the Indian Penal Code.

Justice Pushpa Virendra Ganediwala was born on March 3, 1969 at Paratwada in Maharashtra's Amravati district.

She was a panel advocate for various banks and insurance companies and was also an honorary lecturer in various colleges of Amravati and gave lectures to the MBA and LLM students of the Amravati University.

She was directly appointed as a district judge in 2007 and was elevated as an additional judge of the Bombay High Court on February 13, 2019.

Besides the CJI, justices N V Ramana and R F Nariman are part of the three-member collegium, which takes decisions with regard to high court judges.

Click here to read/download the notification of Law Ministry