New Delhi: The Supreme Court has withdrawn its recommendation to make Justice Pushpa V Ganediwala a permanent judge of the Bombay High Court after her controversial rulings over the two sexual assault cases.
The decision came after three of her recent verdicts, according to a Bar and Bench report, on January 15, she held that the act of holding hands of a minor or the zip of the pants of the accused being open at the relevant time, does not amount to sexual assault as defined under Section 7 of the POCSO Act.
Before which in another case, she acquitted a man charged of a rape case stating it is unlikely possible for a single man to gag, strip and rape “without a scuffle”.
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Justice Pushpa Ganediwala in her verdict modified the order of a sessions court that held a 39-year-old man guilty of a minor’s sexual assault. In her ruling she said without “skin to skin with sexual intent” does not amount to the offence under the Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. The Supreme Court stayed the verdict after an uproar.
According to the Bar and Bench report, a day after the POCSO ruling, the Collegium recommended that she be made permanent judge but news about the ruling had not become public.
A TOI report said that a three-member Collegium comprising of Justices NV Ramana and Rohinton Fali Nariman, headed by Chief Justice of India, SA Bobde, took the decision to recall this January 20 recommendation made to the Central government to make Justice Ganediwala a permanent judge.
The Bar and Bench report added, Justice Ganediwala was appointed as an additional judge of Bombay High Court on February 8, 2019. She started her judicial career in 2007 when she was appointed District Judge.
