A newspaper clipping is going viral on social media. In this clipping, it is stated that the Bombay High Court has ruled that touching a minor without removing their clothes does not constitute sexual assault. People are sharing this newspaper clipping and claiming that the Bombay High Court recently passed this ruling.
Sharing the newspaper clipping, the handle Sweet Parul wrote, “Another new ruling.” (Archived link)
एक और नया फैसला 😔 https://t.co/RNcUka6ZWy
— ❤️ INDIAN ❤️ (@_Sweet_Parul_) March 27, 2025
Another handle, Shailesh Verma, stated, “What is happening in this country? Listen to the order of a woman judge: ‘Touching a minor without disrobing is not sexual harassment.'” (Archived link)
हे जगन्नाथ,हे स्वामीनाथ, हे प्रभु
— Shailesh Verma (@shaileshvermasp) March 26, 2025
यह क्या हो रहा है यह देश में चल रहा है
एक महिला जज का ऑर्डर सुनिए
निर्वस्त्र किए बगैर नाबालिक को छूना यौन उत्पीड़न नहीं ll
_______जस्टिस पुष्पा गानेदीवाला
चरण कहा है आपके 🙏🙏 pic.twitter.com/eOA4TKTXrX
Sarita Chaubey wrote, “After the Allahabad judge, a woman judge of the Bombay High Court says, ‘Touching a minor without disrobing is not sexual harassment!’ Honorable Sir, what shamelessness have you acquired along with your intellect? May God grant wisdom to such people and make them experience such terrible days with one of their own minors so that they feel ashamed of their thoughts.” (Archived link)
इलाहाबाद वाले जज के बाद , बाम्बे हाईकोर्ट की महिला जज का कहना है कि– "निर्वस्त्र किए बगैर नाबालिग को छूना यौन उत्पीड़न नहीं !"
— Sarita Chaubey (@sarita25148177) March 25, 2025
माननीय जी दिमाग के साथ साथ क्या निर्लज्जता पाई है,ईश्वर ऐसों को सद्बुद्धि के साथ साथ इनकी किसी नाबालिग को ऐसा दुर्दिन अवश्य दिखाए ताकि इन्हे अपने इस… pic.twitter.com/Ivt1Z8wswu
The newspaper clipping was also shared by other handles, such as Satya Yadav (Archived link), Sunil Jha (Archived link), and @/margdata8705 (Archived link).
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Fact Check
In our fact-check research, we conducted a keyword search related to this ruling, which revealed that this decision was delivered by the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court in January 2021, not recently. According to the NDTV report, Justice Pushpa Ganediwala had held that groping a minor’s breast without skin-to-skin contact does not constitute sexual assault under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
Justice Ganediwala, while passing this ruling, modified the session court’s order, which had sentenced a 39-year-old man to three years of imprisonment for sexually assaulting a 12-year-old minor.
In December 2016, the accused, Satish, lured the minor victim to his house in Nagpur by offering her something to eat. There, he gripped the minor’s breast and attempted to remove her clothes.
Justice Ganediwala, in her ruling, stated that since he groped her without removing her clothes, the offense cannot be considered sexual assault. Instead, it falls under outraging a woman’s modesty under IPC Section 354.
The Bombay High Court’s ruling sparked significant controversy and widespread outrage. Further, we found that in November 2021, the Supreme Court overturned the Bombay High Court’s order. According to a report in The Economic Times dated November 18, 2021, while quashing the Bombay High Court’s judgment, the Supreme Court emphasized that the most crucial element of sexual assault is sexual intent, not the necessity of skin-to-skin contact.
Justice U U Lalit stated that touching any sexual part of the body or making physical contact with sexual intent qualifies as sexual assault under Section 7 of the POCSO Act. The intent behind the act is what matters, not whether the clothes were removed or not.
In conclusion, the Bombay High Court’s ruling that touching a minor without removing their clothes does not constitute sexual harassment was passed in January 2021. In November 2021, the Supreme Court quashed this ruling, stating that in cases of sexual assault, it is the intent that matters, not whether the act was done by removing clothes or not.
| Claim | The Bombay High Court has ruled that touching a minor without removing their clothes does not constitute sexual harassment. |
| Claimed by | Social media users |
| Fact Check | The Bombay High Court’s ruling that touching a minor without removing their clothes does not constitute sexual harassment was passed in January 2021, not recently. The judgement was overturned by the Supreme Court. |
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