{"id":7081,"date":"2016-03-04T06:28:48","date_gmt":"2016-03-04T00:58:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=7081"},"modified":"2016-03-04T06:28:48","modified_gmt":"2016-03-04T00:58:48","slug":"how-shallow-is-our-understanding-of-sexual-assault","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=7081","title":{"rendered":"How Shallow is Our Understanding of Sexual Assault?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

L<\/span>ast week, in a terrifying order, the Bombay High Court stated<\/a> that the groping of a minor cannot be considered sexual assault without \u201cskin to skin contact\u201d or if clothes were not removed. The shocking judgement, unfortunately by a woman judge, Justice Pushpa Ganediwala triggered a massive public debate with criticism pouring in from all quarters. On Wednesday, thankfully, the Supreme Court put the order on hold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Attorney General KK Venugopal filed a petition against it, stating that the order was disturbing. \u201cAttorney General has brought to our notice the judgement… in which the High Court has apparently acquitted the accused under Section 8 of POCSO on the ground that the accused had no sexual intent in committing the offence because there was no direct physical contact \u2013 skin to skin. The Attorney General submitted that the order is unprecedented and likely to set a dangerous precedent,\u201d the Supreme Court said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The jail sentence of the 39-year-old man for groping<\/a> a 12-year-old that was reduced by the High Court was also put under hold. In its January 19 judgement, the High Court had stated that groping a minor\u2019s breast cannot be termed as sexual assault as defined under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. While the Supreme Court has done the right thing, and in a timely manner to their credit, it is time we redefine and improve our understanding of sexual assault as a society.

Sexual assault is sexual assault, whether clothes are on or off.<\/blockquote>
Section 7 of the POCSO Act, defines \u201csexual assault\u201d as, \u201cWhoever, with sexual intent touches the vagina, penis, anus or breast of the child or makes the child touch the vagina, penis, anus or breast of such person or any other person, or does any other Act with sexual intent which involves physical contact without penetration, is said to commit sexual assault.\u201d As Dilip D\u2019souza pointed out in his piece for Scroll<\/a><\/em>, \u201cIt\u2019s one thing that the language in the POCSO Act makes no mention of \u201cskin to skin\u201d contact (the word \u201cskin\u201d does not appear anywhere in the Act). But I\u2019d love an explanation \u2013 I imagine hundreds of millions of women would, actually \u2013 of how, when a man grabs a woman\u2019s breast as Ragde did this girl\u2019s breast, it is actually not direct physical contact<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Would any victim state that only their clothes were touched and not their breasts? The degree of harassment<\/a> isn\u2019t diluted just because one\u2019s clothes are on. Are we setting a precedent, or dare I say, setting a precedent that people can grope and touch, and it won\u2019t be sexual assault as long as clothes are on? \u201cAny person who values their bodily integrity would agree that the \u2018sexual\u2019 nature of an assault is not dependent on whether or not there was a barrier of clothes between the hands of the victim and the assaulter,\u201d said Mani Chander in The Times of India<\/a><\/em>. The POCSO Act must do away with this ambiguity and prevent instances of literal interpretations in the future just.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sexual assault is sexual assault, whether clothes are on or off. It is appalling that the Act didn\u2019t explicitly make that distinction, and even worse that a Judge of the Bombay High Court chose to interpret it in a very narrow sense when all the facts in the case clearly alluded to sexual assault. As the Supreme Court revisits the case, it must nail down the problem and ensure there\u2019s no future misuse. It is about time that the Court sets the record straight.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Supreme Court has stayed the \u201cdisturbing\u201d order by the Bombay High Court that stated groping without \u201cskin to skin\u201d contact cannot be considered sexual assault. But how do we put an end to such terrifying interpretations?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":7082,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[170],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7081","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gender"],"yoast_head":"\nHow Shallow is Our Understanding of Sexual Assault?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Supreme Court has stayed the \u201cdisturbing\u201d order by the Bombay High Court that stated groping without \u201cskin to skin\u201d contact cannot be considered sexual assault. 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