A political activist from Gujarat’s Ahmedabad has claimed that she sent 150 condoms to Bombay High Court judge Pushpa Virendra Ganeediwala who recently pronounced a verdict in a sexual harassment case involving a minor.
Devshri Trivedi said she had sent condoms to 12 different locations, including Justice Ganediwala’s chamber, the registry of the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court and the principal seat in Mumbai as a mark of her protest to the January 19 verdict, where the HC Judge acquitted a man of sexual assault on grounds of pressing breasts of a minor over clothes without direct skin-to-skin contact does not constitute “sexual assault” under the POCSO Act.
“I cannot tolerate injustice. A minor girl did not get justice because of a judgment by Justice Ganediwala. I am demanding that she (Justice Ganediwala) be suspended,” Trivedi said.
In another controversial ruling by Justice Ganediwala last month, the Bombay High Court (Nagpur Bench) has ruled that “unzipping pants or holding a minor’s hand” does not amount to ‘sexual assault’ under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012.
Justice Ganediwala, who was appointed as additional judge of the High Court in February 2019, was recommended to be made a permanent judge by the Supreme Court Collegium in January 2021. However, after the controversial judgments came to light, the Collegium withdrew its recommendation. Last week, the government extended the tenure of Justice Ganediwala as additional judge for one year.
Source Link
